Eclipse | COTE x Danmachi

Chapter 10 (Breakfast)

"I might be wrong here, but this is nothing like the last time you were looking at my stats..." Aleus spoke, lying down on a bed in a moderately lit room. Shirtless. 

"Nay, nay, Aleus-kun. You are imagining things!" Loki replied with a wide grin. Twitching her fingers, she slowly trailed them along the dull contours of his back, starting from his traps and trailing her fingers along the side of his lats. "This is exaaaactly how it is supposed to be~"

"Uhhh...sure." Aleus sighed and buried his face back into the pillow. 

"Woaaaah..." Loki exclaimed, swinging sideways as the data on Aleus' back started to rise up in the form of a holographic projection. 

"Hm?"

"Your stats are..." Loki gasped.

"...are?"

"They're gross. I was not expecting this from you of all people. Did you not figure out THAT?"

"I am in the middle of it."

"Booooring."

She slapped Aleus' butt before jumping down from the bed and landed on the floor. Grabbing his shirt up, Aleus sat straight, putting it on him. 

"Do you have no idea about it? Even now?"

"Hm. I know how it works. The branched part of my skill, or rather, one of its effects is the only factor that can boost growth. And it is unusable right now." Aleus replied, looking down at his hands. 

"Well..." Loki plopped on the bed once again, "...I bet you'll figure it out. Even if you have trouble, you have Finn. Ask him about anything."

"Sure." Putting on his shirt, he started to get up. 

"What's with that lack of any enthusiasm? Don't you want to take a look at your stats? And why are your eyes so droopy?"

Looking over his shoulder, Aleus replied. "I can already somewhat guess given from your reaction. And the changes in my own body. As for why I seem so lethargic, I have been studying all night with Riveria."

"Studying? About what, exactly?" She asked with a mischievous grin. 

"Hylogryphics."

"Boring~"

"Were you expecting something else?"

"I will chop you up if there was something else." Loki warned, poking her finger in Aleus' cheek. 

Removing her finger from his cheek, he stood up and walked towards the door, finally leaving. As he left, Loki took in a deep breath and looked down at the parchment carrying his stats. With a wide smile on her face, she mumbled to herself. 

"Gross, indeed."

(*****)

A symphony of steel echoed through the stillness of dawn—a blade cleaving through the air with a precision that spoke volumes of its wielder's expertise. 

Each subsequent swish of light that trailed the blade illuminated the immense speed and flawless accuracy of every strike — Ais, bathed in the pre-dawn glow, wielded her saber with silver flashes that tore through the crisp morning air.

The eastern horizon, yet to yield to the rising sun, casted an ethereal hue over the central garden of Loki Familia's home. 

No directive compelled her; it was a self-imposed regimen she had embraced since the tender age of nine. Whether for routine refinement or the honing of her swordsmanship, the garden had witnessed her grow up into the fine adventurer she was now.