Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena POV.
"That was so Preem!!" Rebecca squealed. "It was so freaking amazing! It's incredible, will I ever be able to do that?!" Rebecca was practically bouncing with excitement. I smiled slightly and nodded.
"Of course." I said directly. Lucy approached with an incredulous face as she looked at me.
"That... that really was magic," Lucy murmured, still stunned. "Incredible," she murmured once more before her eyes lit up and she looked at me, almost betrayed. "Wait, if you can do that... Smasher never posed a threat to you?" Lucy asked in surprise.
"None, I can kill him anytime, we're just in Night City longer than we should be to get things for GLaDOS." I said playfully, and Lucy snorted, crossing her arms.
"So you let me babble and think all this time that the Chimera and the Dragoon body were part of some supposed master plan to kill Smasher?" Lucy asked, almost indignant. I shrugged.
"You gave me the excuse yourself," I said with a mocking smile. Lucy grunted.
"It doesn't matter! This is so much more amazing!" Rebecca said with a huge smile.
"What the hell was that?!" Loki yelled as she approached with her familia, staring at me in disbelief. I smiled broadly as I glanced behind her. The entire Loki family looked tired and slightly pale, especially Finn, Ais, Bete, Tiona, and Tione, who were at the front.
It had been two weeks since I was able to break free and have fun using magic properly, so I let myself go at the end of the fight.
"A fight?" I said playfully.
"You spent all your time replicating and copying their weapons! Their magic! That was a joke!" Loki exclaimed indignantly. I stopped and looked at her in surprise.
"Oh, it wasn't supposed to feel like this, it's... like literally what I am." I said honestly, Loki stopped and frowned.
"What you are?" Loki asked, confused. I nodded.
"Yes, it's... difficult to explain, I love magic, my Origin, what defines my existence is 'Mystery', my elemental affinity is 'Mystery', I am someone who defines and lives for 'Mystery'."
"And 'Mystery' is... It's what's called the source of all supernatural phenomena. It's... my whole being is centered on anything related to magic, thanks to that, I'm able to replicate any 'Mystery' I see directly."
"I am capable of replicating any magic, magic weapon, magic armor, passive magic abilities, potions, any skill, spells, or magic object. I judge the concept of its creation, lay out its basic structure, duplicate its materials, imitate the crafting skill, empathize with the experience, reproduce the accumulated years, and complete its manufacturing process."
"All in an instant, that way I'm able to replicate any object or magic and cast it with the same experience and skill as its original wielder." I explained the entire process of my Reality Marble as simply as I could.
"That..." Loki tried to say, surprised.
"My spear, Bete's boots, Riveria's staff, Ais's wind magic, Riveria's ice magic, and fire magic—you were able to replicate it all and use it better, no… You have better stats than we do. Even after using Twice Critical, you were able to overwhelm us with just your magic."
"It's incredible," Finn said, earnestly, with a tired smile. "And so unfair. As I said, I saw you replicate all the moves that took us years to learn, and you did it in an instant. It's really... unfair," Finn said, more bitterly.
"Tch, she's a damn cheat." Bete grumbled as he looked away.
"It is," I agreed. "My skill is practically cheating, but it's who I am, and I'm not going to apologize," I said honestly.
"Excuse me... You said... to retaliate, and I know the Captain said you have better stats than us, but... you... You used Wynn Fimbulvetr and Rea Laevateinn much more powerfully than any of us, and without preparation, without any chanting, without anything..." Lefiya said, her eyes wide.
"I said I could replicate all 'Mystery', I could replicate Mage's upgrades, your Faery Canon and Alf Regina, and Fairy Anthem de Riveria, along with Magna Alfs, the increase in magic was practically colossal. Add to that the fact that I have far more magic, dozens of times more than the two of you combined, and I was able to overload the spell with ease."
"And as for the chants and all that, well... think of my skill as a much better skill than your Double Canon. Your skill allows you to keep the magic circle you just chanted like a ring and use it instantly later."
"I do exactly the same thing, any magic I observe creates a... star inside my body, inside those stars is all the information about a specific magic, the chant, the magic circle, its effects, the casting experience, the skill of the original owner, and more."
"And... those stars, they're always lit, so to speak, in such a way that any magic I want to cast, I just have to grab that star and the magic happens instantly." I explained slowly while sighing with regret.
The sight of my Reality Marble had truly been wonderful; it was a shame I hadn't had the chance to advance the chant so I could summon it once more.
"Okay, that sounds incredible, and very, very cheating, but still, all you used were things you replicated from them." Loki snorted, and I chuckled.
"As I said, I didn't want to kill anyone, so it was best if I didn't use anything from my own repertoire." I hummed as I considered this, shrugged, clapped my hands, crouched down, and slammed my palms on the ground. Massive arcs of electricity spread across the ground as my alchemy took effect.
Large chunks of earth began to quickly rise in succession and were then transformed into strong steel. Before long, there were more than a dozen metal walls lined up one behind the other.
I stood up and clapped once more. I messaged GLaDOS for help with the calculations, and I could feel her working quickly before she gave me all the solutions. I smiled before gently tapping the air.
A Meltdowner the size of my fist shot out from my fingertips. I melted through thick metal walls as if they barely existed, with no resistance at nearly the speed of light.
"That's called Meltdowner. Are any of you capable of dodging that?" I asked playfully, looking at the Loki family. I could see that their faces were slightly pale.
"Thanks for going easy on us." Finn said tensely, and I chuckled.
"By the way, you can keep the Twice Criticals; as you know, I can craft them quite easily," I said, glancing at everyone's wrists. "Although I have something that might be more useful," I hummed, pulling a ring from my inventory. Everyone looked curious.
"This is a medallion," I said, showing them the ring. They all stared at me. I rolled my eyes. "Ignore the name. It was originally a medallion, but it was easier to make it into a ring. The name just stuck," I said casually.
"But as I was saying, this is a Pewter Medallion. The wearer can store their physical strength attribute to use at a later time." I said as I handed the ring to Finn. Finn looked at it curiously.
"And... how is it better than the Twice Critical boost?" Finn asked curiously.
"The Medallion is based on an equivalent exchange. A person can only take advantage of the stored attribute at the same rate that I store it and gets exactly what I store."
"Let's say someone has, to round it off, a strength stat of 1000. The person chooses to store 50% of their stat, or 500, inside the Medallion for a full day."
"During that day, the person will be weaker, temporarily losing those 500 stats and only functioning as if they had 500 stats, making them physically weaker. But once they decide to use those saved stats for a full day, they will be able to operate as if they had 1500 stats." I explain slowly.
"The same as Twice Critical, but with extra steps?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow. I smiled slightly.
"But here's the trick: you can choose to compress that statistic when you're using it. Let's say you squeeze that whole day into half a day; that increases the final statistic amount."
"You'd be able to get 2000 stats in half a day, or 2500 stats in a quarter of a day, or 3000 stats in an eighth of a day, or keep compressing it and get a completely insane boost in just a few seconds," I said playfully. Everyone froze as they registered those words.
"Your rings... You have dozens of them... how many attributes are you capable of storing?" Riveria asked, her eyes wide. I smiled broadly.
"Yes," I said playfully, tossing the ring to Ais, who caught it immediately. "It's magic that requires preparation and time, but it's a huge advantage," I added. "There are... four that would be useful to you. They're purely physical: Strength, Speed, Senses, and Physical Weight. You can choose two of them, and I'll give you the rings."
"Physical weight?" Finn asked, surprised.
"You become lighter when you store, and heavier later on. Actually... this one has more uses in combat; you can become lighter when moving to go faster, and heavier when you attack. It has a slight learning curve, but it works." I said while shrugging, Finn's eyes twinkling slightly.
"Don't you have a magic one?" Riveria asked curiously.
"There are several more," I said honestly. "They're... somewhat esoteric. I'd prefer to discuss it with you before offering them to them." I said honestly, and Riveria seemed surprised before nodding.
"Wait, and you're just going to give it to us like that?" Loki asked cautiously. I shrugged.
"It's in the contract, I will supply them with magical objects that will help them and make them stronger, Riveria will completely join me, she will know all my secrets, I have nothing to hide from her, so sooner or later she will know." I said honestly.
"That... is too much familiarity." Riveria murmured, slightly nervous. I smiled gently at her.
"There's still... a lot to discuss, a lot that Bella left out, you'll understand soon." I said gently, Riveria just nodded.
"Of course, when... when do you want to have that conversation?" Riveria asked gently.
"What do you say now?" I asked, my eyes sparkling slightly. "Why don't I show you the underworld? Riveria can have the conversation with me, and you can visit the underworld," I suggested with a smile, which stopped the entire Loki family in their tracks.
"Wait... can we go?" Loki asked in surprise. I shrugged.
"Of course, that's why I offered it," I said playfully.
"I want to go," Ais said immediately.
"Me too! I always wanted to know what the Heaven of the Gods was like, but I guess it's not so bad to find out what this Underworld is like! " Tiona said happily.
"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to go too," Finn said with a small smile. I looked at Riveria curiously.
"I guess... It's not bad to see where you live, I guess... it will be my new home?" Riveria said almost melancholically.
"Only if you want to," I said gently. "I really have no intention of separating you from the Loki familia. You can spend as much time here as you like, and once you learn how to teleport, you can come and go as you please." I said honestly, and Riveria's eyes widened slightly.
"Can I teleport myself?" Riveria asked, surprised.
"Of course, if you decide to become a demon, it's one of the most basic abilities; after all, we need to be able to travel to the human world to make contracts, and if you don't want to, I could still teach you the magic circle necessary to achieve it."
"It would take a little more effort, but I could show you." I said easily.
"That—" Riveria tried to say, surprised. "And it's just a round trip to the underworld?" Riveria asked, sounding increasingly intrigued.
"Of course not, you're capable of traveling any distance you want, even in the Lower World, even if you were able to figure out where Tenkai is, you should be able to get there." I said, humming slightly.
"Denied, you won't be going to Tenkai!" Loki said immediately, almost panicking. "Uranus and the other gods constantly monitor who enters and leaves Tenkai, especially since they expect a god to break some rule and ascend to Tenkai so another god can take their place, so no, you can't go to Tenkai."
"I wasn't planning to do it, I just said it's possible." I shrugged; Loki just grunted before her expression changed.
"Now, about the underworld," Loki said, sounding excited. "Familia! Prepare yourselves, we're going on a raid into the underworld!" She announced grandly. Tiona cheered joyfully, while the others seemed excited as well.
"A couple of things, time... it passes differently there. There's a slight inconvenience at the moment that's causing a speed difference; one hour in the Underworld is about 14 hours here in Lower World."
"So... I would recommend not being in the Underworld for more than 1 or 2 hours so it doesn't look like you disappeared for several days." I said softly.
"Is that... is that possible?" Lefiya asked, surprised.
"I mean, temporary manipulation is possible, it's only temporary and should be fixed in a couple of... Lower World months, and it should stabilize at 1 to 1 later on and stay that way, so you have nothing to worry about going forward." I said vaguely.
"Damn it, then we can't just disappear like that," Loki grumbled, biting her thumb lightly. "Finn! Go to Orario and tell Gareth we'll be gone for a day! Secret familia mission! Let him take care of everything for one day, then I'll think about what to tell him! " Loki said as she looked at the captain of her familia.
"Understood, Loki-sama." Finn said, bowing slightly. I moved my hand and opened a portal.
"It will take you back to the office where we came from. I'll keep it open until you come back, so there's no need to rush." I said, pointing to the portal.
"Thank you." Finn said, smiling gently as he stepped through the portal.
"Very well! Prepare for a journey to the underworld!" Loki said excitedly, her eyes looking utterly delighted. I chuckled. Loki, like most of the gods, descended to the Lower World in search of entertainment.
Introducing them to a new world? It was normal that Loki seemed terribly excited about it.
"I'll go ahead." Bella said suddenly as a circle appeared beneath her before disappearing. I sighed.
"She's escaping," Rebecca said playfully.
"She's trying, she won't succeed." I snorted dryly, and Rebecca laughed slightly.
"So, it's time to see our new home?" Rebecca asked excitedly.
"Your new home," Lucy replied, crossing her arms.
"Oh come on, I'm sure anywhere would be better than Night City, even the underworld," Rebecca said playfully. Lucy opened her mouth before closing it.
"Touche." Lucy grunted, looking away. I burst out laughing. We continued talking quietly while we waited for Finn to return.