[Outer World]

  Flaring: The basic act of engulfing one's body in Anima, used for empowering and replenishing.

  Coating: Derived by Flaring, it precisely applies Anima to one’s body part or object.

  Masking: Simply hiding one's Anima from untrained senses or those without Eye-Coating. However, it prohibits the usage of Anima.

  Concealing: Derived by Masking, it camouflages one’s Anima to other users, despite the usage of Coating. Allows users to use Anima.

  ***

  Sunlight intruded in the soft silence.

  Not really. It didn’t intrude. It insisted. Just like how the system notification hovered in front of him. The light squeezed through the opened wooden shutters, casting rectangular patterns. Each one shifted as the hours passed. God, how long has he been here? Lodio lost count between Charlyne’s hundredth lap and the bird’s frequent visit.

  Charlyne paced around the room, wooden floorboards creaking.

  “How did it end up this way, tsk.” She thought out loud. “Creep appeared out of nowhere… gave me a beating…” Her gaze lingered on her stomach. “What is he? Some kind of…”

  “Preacher.”

  Lodio interjected.

  “I faced him before… didn’t fight him, but it’s the same powers… he sucked a man…he sucked Anima… stole Anima.”

  Charlyne stopped. The floorboard squeaked as her foot shifted. “You did say that earlier,” she murmured. “When I attacked him. Anima was pouring out. Then it returned to us. It healed me. But you?” She turned her head toward him, eyes locked with his. “Did he steal yours?”

  Looking up, Lodio didn’t answer. He pondered. His gaze darted away from her pinning gaze and to the window. Bright. A bird landed on the windowsill, cocked its head, and then flew away.

  “No…?” He finally answered, gaze flickering back to Charlyne.

  How did…

  Lodio stared at his shaky palms. A map of old nail indents and—

  FSH!

  Pink anima coated his hands.

  “Well… enough of that creep… sorry about earlier. You know… well, I guess I judged a book by its cover,” Charlyne said, offering her hand.

  Lodio stared at it for a few seconds before taking it.

  “Lodio Azhario.”

  More hours passed by, the golden light spilling into the room, caressing the very walls. He and Charlyne were chatting away: Juless’s habits, childhood stories, and that creep again. Even if she said she wouldn’t talk about him. And chatting away would be an overstatement. Lodio simply nodded or listened.

  Then, again, the topic was brought up.

  “The holes didn’t hurt—at least I don’t think. It felt weird. Like something was stolen from me, but then…” Charlyne paused. “Tsk, I should’ve killed that bastard. My string was—“

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Strings?”

  “Mm, strings. Coat your eyes.”

  Demonstrating, Charlyne’s fingertip unraveled into strings.

  Lodio’s breath hitched softly. Like a laugh through your nostrils. He stared at the glinting strings that snaked and hovered. Then, an oil lamp turned on. Testing his theory, he stopped coating his eyes, and there it was. A translucent finger.

  That’s how it works…

  “Interesting, right?” Charlyne flashed a cocky grin. “I call it UNRAVELING THE WORLD.”

  In an instant, Lodio unsheathed his sword, pink dogwood petals orbiting around the blade.

  Charlyne waited. And waited. And waited. Then, she sighed and scoffed. “Tsk, you’re supposed to say the name.”

  Lodio blinked. “Name?”

  She nodded.

  “D-Dogwood Requiem—“

  “With confidence, or else your Anima wouldn’t be at their maximum potential,” Charlyne instructed.

  “You didn’t say it earlier.”

  “If I did, then that creep would’ve heard me, and we would’ve been all dead. Besides, I’m already confident in my Anima, so I wouldn’t need to say it.”

  A soft stir.

  Awakening from her slumber, Juless sat up and rubbed her eyes. The soft light painted her face in an orange glow. “W-w-where a-am I-I?” She stuttered out.

  “In a tavern’s room,” Charlyne answered, already making her way toward her. “You don’t look so good… your… face…” She trailed off.

  Slowly, her hand traced the swelling on her cheek, then regretted it. A sharp exhale escaped her nostrils, blowing the blonde strands across her nose away.

  “A little bruise…tss…won’t hurt.” Despite Juless’s words, her fingers continue to press on the bruise. “Besides, we survived the Tower. I’ll survive this.” She grinned, eyes crinkling.

  With that, hours blurred by, blue moonlight spilling into the room. Despite the closed wooden shutters. Lodio sank into the mattress. No canopy this time. He stared at the wooden beams and the rope. A small spiderweb highlighted by the moonlight.

  Lodio excused himself, leaving the sisters to their privacy. Even then, the outside life didn’t give him any. The moonlight didn’t give him anything. But as his eyelids grew heavy, all he could think about was Valerio and his Anima.

  Slowly, another thought crept in like a thief dressed in a black cloak.

  Them.

  Lodio sat up, his posture slouched.

  Are they dead?

  Dozens of lodged petals flashed in his mind… petals?

  With one finger, he coated it with Anima.

  “D-Dogwood Requiem…”

  Dogwood petals orbited around his finger, and with a flick? They rocketed toward the wall.

  "You should’ve made your… intentions…a little more tighter… flexible… yes…”

  He looked up.

  ”I intend it to be razor-sharp and linear.

  Pathetic.

  Even when that beaked figure’s silhouette made his hands tremble. They had a point. Assuming, in Lodio’s thoughts, Valerio must’ve had a good Intent. While he himself had a weak Intent. But can he rewrite his Intent?

  “I intend it to…” Too vague. “I intend my body and blade… I intend my Anima to shape into petals, coating my body or blade, when I… ehm…” Lodio paused. “Tsk.”

  He flopped back, hair fanning out like black silk. His face twisted into an eternal scowl, but then, his eyes widened.

  Intent, Intent, Intent…

  That word repeated like a mantra.

  “I intend my Anima to shape into dogwood petals, orbiting my body or blade.”

  Sitting up, he tried it again.

  But instead of his finger getting orbited. Inside his scabbard, his blade flamed on instinct. Lodio tore his sword off the scabbard, letting the Anima flare wildly. Petals orbited around it.

  “Huh? How? I focused on my finger,” he said to himself.

  Trying again, he focused on his blade, but… instead of that. Anima coated his head, petals orbiting around it before crashing into the bed. The petals flopped, landing on his face and bed. He lay there.

  But when he continued to stare at the petals. Something shifted. Something stirred. Something went off. The petals.

  It doesn’t…

  Sitting up, the petals brushed off his face, landing on his lap.

  It doesn’t…

  Coating his eyes, he stared at the brimming flame in the petals. Strong. Fiery. Pulsing. For a good minute, Lodio stared.

  “Did he,” he murmured, fingers brushing against the soft petals. “Steal my Anima when I…”

  All out attack.

  Clenching his fists, his nails dug into his palm, drawing blood.

  “I intend my Anima to shape into dogwood petals, orbiting my body or blade…” Lodio gritted his teeth. “I can’t think…”

  Standing up, he paced around the room; each footstep announced a creak. Finally, Lodio stopped, his left foot shifted.

  “Or?”

  A pause.

  “I intend my Anima to shape into dogwood petals, orbiting on any matter that I use Coating on. Make it razor-sharp. Make it go linear when I launch it. Shatter when it arrives. Its name shall be Dogwood Requiem.”

  Is that all?

  Focusing on his blade, he coated it, petals orbiting.

  Can I make my Anima into anything?

  He sat again.

  I’ll figure it out.

  Him, I will find him.

  His heart thumped.

  I’ll need to get a bit stronger…