Munetsuchi

Anais had been in a very compromised position when she was younger. And now, she was in one of a different sort. The man before her had indeed caught her as she would have fallen and her muttered apology and flushed face had done nothing to get him to let go of her. Most people wouldn't have remained touching her in such a way, but everyone in this particular palace seemed to have less boundaries than normal people. Right now, there was a certain touch of her ear which was nothing too great but very odd. Had someone ever actually touched her like this? Did she like it? Well, the answers on both accounts was yes, she found that touch comforting and relaxed in this man's arms as he prodded her being with his mana. He was speaking too, saying things which counted as making sense in her own mind. "Aegiess? I've heard that word but I don't know what it means," she said softly.

At the same time, Charles was coming to some dark conclusions. These were the sorts of conclusions which had to be reached, but couldn't just be given. If one gave someone information they weren't ready to process, it would end only in disbelief. If they came to the conclusion on their own with the pieces that they'd come across on their own, they gained wisdom. That was what Miwa strived for and that made sense given her own divine origins. Moving on a Labyrinth was mentioned, and Charles had apparently completed it. His conclusions were dark as ever but all roads were leading to this singular conclusion. Still he asked more questions at the end of his conclusions, a likable trait indeed. "To be technical any who completed that trial could have claimed the grail, and probably should have," she said. "There are a few disturbing surprises yet, but since you narrowed it down to those concerning the grail directly..." she stated seeming to think of the best way to phrase the information.

"Holy Grails, at their base level, are wish granting artifacts. They are spawned by the Nexus in the world in a form of infinite potential... that is to say, they are spawned into the world as children. It would be more accurate to call them the Children of the Nexus," she clarified. "They grow to maturity expend their natural energy to grant the wish of their holders, they change the world with all they are, in the form of a chalice. They can then be reborn through their holder, who would become their parent," she explained the truth of this situation. "But if only two of the ones present are ornate, it means that they did not grow to their maturity. But you wouldn't be able to tell completely what child would be a Child of the Nexus initially. You would have to be collecting them while they are in the form of children from everywhere they could potentially spawn... it would have started to become obvious by the time the child was around six or seven years old..." she clarified. Ah but he'd asked a two fold question, so she still had to answer the other half. "Even if you cannot use a grail, you can technically use it to grant wishes. But he wouldn't be able to fill a grail in the traditional way by communing with it. It would be necessary to use the others to fill whatever one he was trying to use actively. To keep using it, to do whatever thing he is trying to do, he'd need a constant supply of energy unbound by potential... so more grails... or to be more accurate more Children of the Nexus," she concluded. This explanation had been heard by all present. Sakura seemed to understand that dozens of children were not being born instead their bodies and souls were being used up as energy. Meanwhile the speech was heard by Anais who seemed to go ghostly pale, losing the strength in her legs and seemed to be softly mumbling... about her part in this, they were doing wrong. Everything surrounding Aincrad was wrong!

Ailen had spoken a word in Elvish to describe Anais and her very unique situation. She claimed to have heard it before. Interesting, he thought. Regardless, she didn't know what it meant, prompting further explanation from the blonde male. "Aegiess is in the language of the elves. It is also called Patronus, Dul... all words that, in Common, mean Protector. It typically manifests similarly to light-attribute magecraft, but is more likened to an early magic at times. You may have seen it manifest as some form of guardian that is especially effective against those who seek to do you harm."

Apparently, it was very possible for Charlemagne to acquire a Holy Grail by completing the Labyrinth. Miwa insisted that anyone who could have completed said trial should have claimed it. That only made more sense as he considered the Labyrinth's history. "Well... the only person who cleared it alone besides me was Jeanne, and she already had a Holy Grail of her own. If it can only go to one person, then I really did win it ages ago," he clarified. Of course, that only made things even darker. Darker still would be the truth of Holy Grails ─ their existence as children from the Nexus who grew until they became wish-granting Artifacts. The thought of utilizing a dead child for power was somewhat... disgusting, but there was more. In becoming Holy Grails, those same children somehow became the children of grail-holders in the future. That was perhaps the strangest thing he'd ever heard, but he couldn't be too surprised about anything at this point.

The children who did not become Holy Grails in the 'natural' manner became the lesser grails. Charlemagne was still stuck on the idea of grail children becoming new lives through their owners. His right hand rose, and as if responding to his curiosity, the Holy Grail linked to him appeared within. It was still filled with the very same liquid it had when he received it: a golden nectar with a red and dark-silver, almost black substance swirling within it. "So this thing will become a child? And... used to be a child, who died to grant me a wish... who will also be reborn through me at some point. The smaller ones... you're saying are children who were hunted down and killed before they transformed naturally?" There were many questions, but few of them relevant. "Wait, why tell me that before saying something like... I dunno, like I could use my grail wish to fix whatever problem I'm dealing with? Or is there some reason I can't do that?"

Anais was receiving a lesson in language. What was this lesson, that her connection to a word, was something of a light based power, which when translated to common meant, Protector. At this Sakura seemed to look over, "Oh, like the fiery deer, you were summoning in the woods," she seemed to have a certain understanding. "Yes, it's a white hart... that explains its lack of effectiveness. Someone who isn't out to harm me can still approach me," she mentioned. Still that was a lot, there was far too much going on in this girl's head. She needed to decompress but she knew that making sure Charles didn't shatter was still a more pressing issue than her emotional discontent.

Jeanne d'Arc was one of the Grail winners from a Holy Grail War. It would make sense if she conquered a Labyrinth after such a thing took place that she wouldn't be at all affected or claimed by that grail. "Yes, that does make sense. You can only claim one, and after attaining the evolution presented by the Nexus you cannot attain it a second time," Miwa explained. Still there were many things said at this time by Miwa and many of them seemed to be swirling around in the mind of Charles. She'd given him the information and wondered what he'd make of it. A few points of clarification were necessary, still the lad seemed almost exceedingly capable. "I never said they die. I said they change the world with a wish and are reborn. As beings related to the Nexus I am presently able to hypothesize that death doesn't apply to them. Death is a gift created by the goddess of Death for this world, to avoid the negatives of growing too old without having the body, mana, or means to continue progressing. Death however isn't something applicable to those born before it was conceptualized. This can be hypothesized to apply the same way to beings that are not part of this world, like Children of the Nexus. That being said, being forced into the form of the cup, could count as an end to their physical existence, but that isn't the same thing. Again dying would be much more pleasant than not being able to continue their life cycle as intended," she clarified her thoughts. However she realized that saying they don't die didn't mean they weren't suffering, actually she was pretty sure they were, and when Charels produced his Holy Grail she was able to confirm it.

"Kaa-sama it's tainted," was the simple sentence spoken by Sakura. Miwa looked at her daughter who was approaching and gave her a gentle pat on the head. "Right you are Saku-chan! I'm glad you've been paying attention~" she mentioned. "Also very interesting that you noted that I didn't make that suggestion immediately after finding out you had one, and that was for multiple reasons. The first of which was I wasn't sure the state of your Holy Grail, and it does indeed seem to be tainted, cursed or some other type of negative aspect," she said while looking at the cup and its strange liquid contents. "The second reason is a bit complex but comes back to me figuring out exactly what is happening to you, but I may have enough information to figure it out now that I have the base background understanding of how you came to be in the situation you showed up in."

"Fiery deer?" Ailen questioned when his daughter spoke up. Anais went on to specify that her manifestation of the blessing they discussed was the White Hart. Finally, Ailen released the girl's ear in shock. "Oh? To have the purest form as well, it's no wonder they thought you were a candidate. You are quite the interesting specimen," he mused. With that, Astolfo finally had additional words to share from behind Anais. "And more interesting from the other side~♥" the pink-haired lad said with an accompanying whistle.

Miwa confirmed that an individual could claim only one Holy Grail. He recalled something about that, either from one of the grail wielders or the journal of Jeanne; he couldn't recall which. If that were the case, the lesser grails of Aincrad had a chance of being owned by those who claimed them directly... or those who executed the children? No, it seemed 'execute' wasn't the right word, as Miwa debunked the idea of those children dying. While on the topic of death, she went on to explain why the concept even existed in this world ─ and presumably his original world as well. With all these separate pieces of information piled atop existing problems, Charlemagne was starting to have difficulty keeping everything straight. Too many lies had been spoken for the truths to be unveiled in a single day. "This is a lot. My head's starting to hurt," he admitted. Maybe that was just the same shattering sensation again? Well, it would only be worse if he tried figuring out which thing it was. He'd just take everything Miwa said as truth, so long as it fell inline with beliefs he had reason to harbor this day. Thus far, he had no reason to disbelieve anything she said, even if he decided to be incredibly skeptical.

Once Charlemagne showed his grail, Sakura immediately claimed it was tainted. Miwa confirmed her belief, then moved directly on to her omission of the grail as his solution. She seemed to have expected a tainted grail or something of the sort, and further needed to confirm whatever was going on with him. If she had enough information to figure out a better method, he'd be quite the satisfied man indeed. If nothing else, he'd be... anything but deleted. "So... is that to say you've got an idea for how I can start moving around without breaking apart? Because I've kinda just been standing here for fear of breaking apart. . ."

Anais had been realized, but this was mostly a thing of shock. Apparently, the manifestation of a White Hart was a rare thing and worthy of note. It seemed to be something worthy of compliment as well, even so Anais felt strangely knowing this information. Was she even worthy of something like her blessing while being associated with the cult like practices of Aincrad. How much had she let go by? How many bad things were her fault either by action or omission? It would be a while yet until she made peace with everything... But there was always something a bit more light-hearted. Unlike previous times in her life, where she might have completely shut down at some point, Astolfo was present and being very much himself. His compliment about her rear, "Astolfo why?!" she managed with a bright red face but... no shut down so one could suppose Astolfo was good for morale.

Speaking of, there was a certain amount of information overload. Charles was taking in too much information for a single day, figuring out how bad the entirety the 'Holy Father' and the organization he was connected to was, was likely way more taxing than anything should be. His constant shattering being was also something to be taken into account. "I know. I was trying to keep it from being too much at once..." she mused, knowing that many in his position would have broken mentally long before this moment. There was quite a bit of fortitude in this lad if nothing else. As for the nature of his physical self, it was the perfect time to give him a bit of a break. "I should ask first, have you heard a parable of a king or god, who was once tasked with deciding a dispute between two women over a single child? In his wisdom he presented the idea that he might cut the baby in half. His judgement was deemed good because he gave the baby not to the woman who didn't care if the baby got cut in half, but to the woman who was willing to give up the baby to spare its life... a decision of selfless love," she gave the story as an opener. A mental palate cleanse so that she could better explain to Charles and Sakura the state of his body and why what she was about to suggest was something which might be likely to work.

While Anais went through a bit of mental turmoil, the ultimate savior Astolfo came to the rescue! He had always been the one to lift the mood with a few shenanigans, whether intentional or otherwise. Frankly, it was rare that Astolfo did such a thing on purpose; it was a matter of happenstance nearly every time. Such was simply his nature. Being asked simply 'why' was no rare occurrence, though. In this case, he had more than just an answer. "What? I was just looking at things from the brighter side! Get it? The brighter side!" he said, interestingly enough while reaching out to give Anais a cheeky pinch to... well, to the cheek of her rump.

All the while, the less joyous topics were still being addressed just a few meters away. Miwa said she'd been trying to prevent an overload of information. Others may have crumbled even sooner, but Charlemagne thought she'd failed to give anything less than too much. That was a matter of subjectivity best not discussed, though, much like many topics he'd considered in recent moments. Besides, Miwa had another topic for him to consider. She told him the gist of a story regarding a child divided into two parts over two bickering women. Nothing about that tale was familiar to Charlemagne, but he was made to wonder where it was all going. "I don't know it, but the choice makes sense. I wouldn't trust a mother who would let their kid be cut in half. Actually... where I come from, babies are taken away from parents who don't nurture their children enough. Gomen. I'm not sure how that all links up to this."

It seemed that regardless of circumstances Astolfo was just being himself. He was according to his own words looking at the brighter side, which given context and the pinch to Anais's rear meant he'd found her best kept secret that being the thickness of her own rear. Given her own understanding of physiology and her previous upbringing such a thing actually made her slightly self-conscious. "Of course I don't get it! I've spent enough of my life gently considering being fat, don't rub it in!" she claimed as she swatted and aimed to skittishly move away. She always would. Ah, but nothing could do a better job of easing the tension than Astolfo Antics.

At the same time, Miwa had used a bit of a break to try and make sure the lad was focused on the new problems. Still, Charles wasn't exactly familiar and as such didn't get where the conversation was going. That was a bit of a loss, still, he mentioned that he understood the decision overall, and that similar types of decisions would have been made where he comes from. "Ah, that's a shame, those things are always good introduction for tense topics," she mused, sounding a bit like a nerd who thought they needed an opener to explain their strange hobby. "Well how it links up is the opposite tale, what happens when you split the baby in half, which ties directly into what is happening with you." she explained. This part was quite dense but it was necessary. For her part in this Sakura had been quietly listening and observing the whole of this interaction and she realized already the issue. "That is to say in this world there was a god who was married to a goddess but produced offspring with someone not his wife. To hide the infidelity he decided to use an old magic to split the child's soul in two. He kept this knowledge from both women not wanting to explain the infidelity to his wife, and not wanting to tell the other woman he was taking her baby to give it to someone else," she explained the situation. "But since the baby hadn't been born yet, the nature of the split wasn't even, and this was also on purpose... one half was larger than the other, so that when the two pieces reached maturity the smaller side would physically and spiritually join the other. They'd be absorbed into their original self, leaving no trace of everything they'd become up to that point. They'd become that original existence..." she explained the situation and wondered if this was enough detail to make her point. "Are there points I need to clarify?"

Anais had considered herself fat at some point in life. Astolfo had once grown up in the very same culture, so he knew where that line of thought came from. On the other hand, he knew the reality of it all. That not-so-well kept secret of hers was actually just a waste. "Blehh! There's no point thinking like that! Have you seen people here?! Everybody wants one of those!" he assured. Of course, there was a bit of bias on Astolfo's part in this matter. Some could attest to the fact that the small, feminine male could hospitalize anyone who didn't have enough meat on their backside. Ah, but that point stood for most who lived in this world, regardless of the specific reasons. "By the way, we landed at sea! We should do a beach episode while we're here!" he said further. Of course, he was casually keeping up the most random topics while weaving around the swatting of Anais ─ and of course sending a series of jabbing pokes toward her rear.

Miwa expressed dissatisfaction over Charlemagne's lack of familiarity. That tale was apparently one she considered important for broaching certain topics. Regardless, Charlemagne understood enough from the story that Miwa continued to the greater point. There was an opposing story related to the one she first mentioned, involving an unfaithful god who divided his bastard between mistress and wife. The two halves were fated to rejoin one another, or more specifically... the slightly smaller one would be consumed into the other. Charlemagne's primary issue with this was the order of things. It wasn't clear which half was larger, but there was no real positive to be found either way. "So one mother ends up childless in the end regardless? That's not the smartest solution," he mused. One more question passed Miwa's lips. She asked if there were any points in need of clarification. Thinking over it, Charlemagne couldn't come up with much. Just as the case had been since the conversation started, he was actively thinking more than he normally would. A few dots had been connected as a result of said thinking. "I don't think so. Are you telling me in a roundabout way that I'm some weird half-baby?"

Had she seen the people here? Yes, and that was exactly where her extra misgivings about her appearance came from. Yes, there were plenty of good-looking women who were a great deal more balanced in their physical appearance, she had no such balance. As such she felt out of place and underdeveloped even compared to a few of their direct peers. "Here is an entirely different problem. I stopped feeling fat and started feeling unimpressive in general. Leave me to wallow!" she complained. Oh well, the nature of being a girl in any world would always be complex, magic didn't make it any better. As for the suggestion of a beach visit while they were here she scoff. "There is no way I am going to a beach with you. You need adult supervision, and I don't mean me!" Anais was near her own mental breaking point, but at least she wasn't currently hung up on the tragedy of her childhood and her own misguided alliance with Aincrad. She was also managing to keep up with most of the conversation enough that she understood the gravity of Charles situation.

The musings of Charles about the smartness of the decision to split the baby in half and leave one mother without a child after the fact was something that Miwa agreed with. "Indeed. But I never said he was clever... in a time before wisdom was in the world, many short-sighted decisions were made. And even after wisdom was not heeded. It was quite a problem for her," she mentioned in a haphazard manner. Charles's understanding of the situation while quite simple was technically true. "Yes, actually that is what I am getting at. The part of you that was stolen is bigger than you are... so you shattering as your soul tries to rejoin, but when it does, you'll be fully absorbed into the bigger portion. That being the portion that belongs to the one who stole from you..." she mentioned in a haphazard way. "The good news in this situation is that the baby from the pervious story was partly me, and partly the Goddess of Wisdom Metis. Knowing this, I can say it is possible to become a big enough piece of your own existence that you won't be passively absorbed by someone else," she said going on to list some specific caveats. "In my case though, it was easier for me, because Metis was kind, she wasn't trying to absorb me. She changed her name and refused to let us harmonize to the point of becoming the same person," she explained of the situation. "But you... have the bigger half of you working against your existence, as such you need to make sure the remaining part of you becomes so big that it is no longer capable of being absorbed. It would also be best if you managed to anchor yourself to something that couldn't be touched or corrupted by the influence of the one that stole the other half of you," she finished up the explanation as if it made perfect sense. "Which brings me to my current understanding, the thing behind the core. The unknown thing... which has a name the Source. The other gods do not need cores, and our friendly demon spoke of waking the one in the death goddess so it should be possible to wake yours, since you like her basically have no core. And it would make you something greater than the previous self and better for it. Of course he spoke of it as if it would require a mana overload which might cause you to shatter completely," she completed her hypothesis and waited for any particular input. Perhaps someone might have something to say about it, but it would be Sakura's whose brain was alight. "If you throw fallen flowers onto the stove, the searing heat infuses them with one final spark of vitality, and for a brief moment, they radiate a more glorious glow than the flames themselves... it was a short life they lived, but it was by no means a wasted one."

Always from one problem into the next. It seemed Anais couldn't just settle for a happy middle. In their original world, she thought herself fat. In this life, she thought she was underdeveloped. Wallowing wouldn't do her any good, nor was there any point in it. "What're you wallowing for?! Just put it out there! You know how many people prefer the bottom half to the top? A lot!" he insisted. To that, Aines had much to say. He hadn't released the girl still, but he considered it just as much her own fault for never moving away. "That is correct. A woman's breasts are important only for delivering mana. The quantity is not so important as the quality, especially for those who would rather enjoy the act of offering. As for a more equivalent exchange, neither of those physical features truly matter. Though receiving sufficient mana would naturally result in breast growth, I do also have an elixir capable of optimizing mana flow, which would naturally result in a natural expansion as opposed to the various magical means which do so artificially. If that is something you wish for, I would need only a small sample of your energy to customize the recipe, allowing for a special brew that achieves the desired size and streamlines your Magic Circuits to that standard with only a few doses. Hmm. On the other hand, the material cost of that concoction may have been overlooked in its conception. Comparatively, there are four people in this very room whose mana is sufficient enough to produce the same results with an intense enough transfer. I assume that number would be five if the boy over there became stable. On the other hand, some of those transfers may do more than you would like, and you don't yet seem capable enough to reduce yourself if someone goes overboard. These matters are so fickle. . ."

The god Miwa spoke of in her story was not reportedly a clever one. That much was clear from the story itself, Charlemagne thought. Whatever the case, he was on the right track in his most recent assumption. He'd been made into a case similar to that story, and he'd been made the smaller portion. Father An would actively absorb him if he didn't become whole somehow. On the positive side, that tale was not a fictional one. Miwa admitted to being one part of the divided infant goddess, which probably made her the first of multiple similar cases leading to Charlemagne. She and her other half managed to avoid combining. They were both goddesses, but with their wisdom, perhaps there was salvation for Charlemagne as well.

So then, how would Charlemagne become a full existence after being broken? How would he avoid being deleted by absorption when Father An certainly had over 90% of his Spiritual Core? Well, apparently there was something beyond the Core itself: the Source. To reach it, one had to experience mana overload; that didn't sound pleasant. Worse still, it was something that could outright shatter him. Surely there had to be a safer option, right? "Wait wait wait! This is starting to sound like laser eye surgery! I'm not so sure I like the idea of having bad eyesight fixed when there's a solid chance of going blind in the process!" That outburst was based on thoughts from a previous life, but it was the first thing entering Charlemagne's mind at the time. Sakura spoke up again to make some analogy about cooking flowers to make a pretty show. What? That sounded... "Worse! I can't even think of what that might mean, but it sounds so much worse! That one sounds like blowing me up and just being happy with the fact that everyone got a good fireworks show out of it! I've got a ton of promises to keep, and I'll be murdered a thousand times if I die before delivering on any of them!"