R. A. T. H

Thirty-Six vol.2

Lightning crackled from a sword, mixed with flames and wind, and a slash sent the storm of elements flying, cleaving through militants like a knife through butter, sending them to their doom. Rose moved through the battlefield, wind boosting her speed, as her weapon cleaved and slashed.

Then the memory stopped.

Another scene jumped to its place, the past experience flooding into her once more.

Lightning crackled between her fingers as Lilias watched her form. The element climbed her arms, wishing to fry her, but she felt her willpower shoot up once more, overcoming the challenging will of nature's wrath and dragging that sparkling chaos right down between her fingers.

"Alright," Rose muttered, eyes staring at the wall in front of her, unblinking. "It should be easier next time."

The memory faded out of Rose's mind as she took all the sensations, thoughts, and emotions she had at that moment with her, learning from them once more before her brain replayed a new memory dragged from her core, all of her senses jumping deep into it.

Lilias's swords came.

She knocked them away, her voice rang, the girl stepped back, and she stepped in, slashing.

Abdomen, blocked.

Rose changed the trajectory of her blade, heading towards the girl's shoulders, feinted, then slashed towards the dragonian's neck.

Her eyes widened as their weapons' contact point sparked. She tried to move her arm, drag her sword out, and this time, she more adeptly realized the reason why it had been impossible.

The girl spoke as she twisted her dual swords, moving her arms to counter Rose's movements, opposing her wish to drag her weapon out.

Then.

<Igris> flew out of her hands.

"So that was why. . ." Rose muttered, seated upon their apartment's couch in the dead of the night, having re-analyzed her spar with Lilias, having experienced it all once more.

She was intelligent, but her greatest strength still remained her brain's processing power and her ability to see her memories as if she were reliving them. After all, her core, her being, stored everything she experienced to be easily called back on later. It was the same way her past self's memories, emotions, and will were etching into her.

If she wished for it, she could choose to focus on only the visual and auditory information of the memory, which was most useful when there were other things in her surroundings that needed her attention. Here, upon a couch in the dead of the night, though, she was fully running through memories, taking everything she had experienced through her mind once more, as if reliving them.

She had two motives in learning from these old memories, one was to avoid falling victim to the same attack twice. The other was to learn her opponent's techniques herself in case the need ever arose to use them. Those two ideals were the sole reason why she was a fast learner and why it was best to be trained by someone rather than learn on her lonesome - so she could actually have a previous experience to fall back on.

'I imagine this is also one of the reasons homunculi are utilized as soldiers,' Rose thought.

The hum of her core kept her focused as the next memories came, and she extended her hands before her, flames birthing and floating between her palms.

Ever since she saw Bianca create constructs out of ice, she had desired to match her. Not only because she had drawn upon a momentary rage to send her own, somewhat weak, spears of flames flying, but because she felt it the necessary next step to her Gear past raw power.