I took a deep breath and concentrated within myself, drawing on the new source of energy that I was not even aware that I had until two days ago.
"Come on! How long are you going to make me wait?"
I just gave a flat stare to my beloved wife, who was fidgeting hard while sitting on the ground.
"You think it is really that easy? I need to prepare thoroughly before I can attempt it. Not to mention, this is the first time I am doing this after seeing this done only once before with me. I need to be careful about this if I don't want you to end up with some kind of permanent damage."
"Steve. If what they say is true and Aura is just the extension of the soul, then there is no way for you to harm me in any way. I know your soul better than you know it yourself, and you would rather die than bring any harm to me. So, get this show on the road already!"
I felt my heart warm at her words, but by the end of her sentence, I could not help but give an exasperated sigh.
"Alright. Usually, we need a chant to do this since it helps focus and provides a way for us to express our convictions. But we don't need such things between us."
Alex grinned at those words.
"True! There is nothing that we do not know about each other, so there is no need to say anything."
I simply nodded at her words since they were true.
In the many centuries we have been together, we have long since revealed every secret we ever held within our hearts and know everything there is to know about each other in more ways than one.
With another deep breath, I concentrated on my Aura and slowly molded it like I would with my eldritch energies, making it slowly flow through my arm and into my Spouse, heading straight for her 'core'.
As I did, somehow, a chant came to mind. One that I did not decide on or think about, but one that perfectly encapsulated my very being.
"It is in companionship that we achieve completion."
"Through this, we achieve strength unparalleled and fulfill our deepest desires."
"Infinite in love and unbound by the past"
"I release your soul and by my shoulder, empower thee."
Despite bracing myself for it thanks to my prior experience, I still understated what would happen next.
Alex's neon green Aura erupted outwards with pure kinetic energy, throwing me across the obsidian chamber that we built specifically for this purpose and making the room rattle. I could even see some of the Obsidial blocks cracking under the strain before Alex closed her eyes and used her experience in handling eldritch energies to pull her Aura back into her body.
"Whoa! What was that!?"
"That is what I told you about yesterday."
"Wait! You were telling the truth when you said your Aura caused that explosion!? I thought you were covering up another embarrassing mishap with your experiments!"
"Seriously!?"
At my shout, Alex gave me a sheepish look before looking down at her arms that were still glowing with her Aura.
"i must say, this feeling of power is something else. It feels like-"
"Like you can do anything. That you are unstoppable."
"Yeah! Exactly! But what was that explosion earlier, and why did it happen with both of us?"
I sat by her side, allowing her to put her head in my lap while she continued playing with her Aura.
"From what I gathered, it would seem that the greater the Aura reserves, the stronger the physical reaction when it is awakened. And based on the scraps of data I managed to scrounge together, it would seem that Aura reserves continue growing alongside a Huntsman, strengthening and expanding according to his age and then waning and weakening when they become old."
"Oh! So that's what happened."
I nodded at her words.
"Given our lifespan, it is no surprise that our Aura reserves are at a point where they can physically interfere with the world by just being unlocked. Not to mention that our reserves are so large that we can literally never run out of them unless something obscenely powerful attacks us, like a whole fleet of bombers from back home, or maybe even a Nuke."
"....Babe, tell me something. Are we somehow becoming like Sun Wukong from the myths? Stacking different types of immortality on our bodies?"
I could not help but laugh at those words.
"Well, I guess the comparison is not wrong. First, we have our natural immortality, where we always reform after every death. Second, we are incapable of aging, which means old age will never come for us. Third, we have the Totems of Undying, which will prevent anything from killing us. And now, we have Aura on top of all that, not to mention there is also the curve ball in the form of our Semblances that we have yet to find, which could be literally anything."
"Hm. I guess that is reassuring. Putting that aside, let's go to the town for some shopping today!"
I raised an eyebrow at those words as she sprang up to her feet and started vibrating in place with excitement.
"Isn't the festival in a few days? Why not wait until then?"
"And what do we do until then?"
"Well, we could see what makes that Bullhead tick-"
"BORING!"
"....Aren't you the one who wanted me to buy it-"
"Don't sweat the details! The point is, I am bored and I want to see what this world has in store! Think of it as a cultural exchange!"
I just smiled at her words.
Despite my protests, there was no way I was going to deny her request. So I just pretended to grumble about her sudden excursion and let her dress me up in a white shirt with its sleeves folded and black pants with regular boots.
I don't know how long it has been since I've seen this kind of excitement from her. Maybe after we were finally done being surprised in the Overworld, having already seen everything that it had in store for us. But now, seeing that long lost spark reemerge in her eyes, I could not help but be grateful to whatever God, demon, or whatever else it was that brought us to this world.
Because they gave me a part of my wife back. A part that I once thought forever lost.
Soon, we left our house, which now had proper fences and was connected to the main road with a proper path, since we decided to make this place our home for now, heading straight for Kuroyuri.
As we walked towards the town, holding hands as my wife had a spring in her steps with excitement, I too ended up being swept away by her enthusiasm.
Let's see what this little town has that can surprise us.
----------------------------------------------------
Author notes: Read 10 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Tiranus2