Eternal Courage 3: Galactic Bonds

Arc 3 - Chapter 40: The New Offer

Saku continued his training session with Aeron, with Zarla assisting them. Saku was evading Aeron's attacks from all angles, focusing his sensory ability, though some of them came close. After a short while Aeron stopped "If I'm focused enough I can just about sense where you strike" said Saku as she appeared before him, the icy wind still circling

"It seems so" said Aeron "I will try to adapt my strikes to co-ordinate with your ability but I have a proposition"

"Go on"

"Permit me a second" Aeron vanished back into the snow, Saku pondering until he felt a strong tap to his shoulder "Did you feel that?"

"Yes I did"

"Tell me where it strikes" Saku nodded as he felt the strong taps, and saw them being small stones of ice "

"Left leg, right elbow, top back, lower ankle"

"This can work then" Aeron reappearing "I can use this signal to notify you on the angle of my attack, giving you ample time to evade"

"I see, it means I won't accidentally get caught"

Saku looked to Aeron "Right then...this isn't the 100% of your depths is it?" Aeron shook her head

"This current state utilizes between 65 – 90% of my strength" said Aeron "the state itself presents no recoil in the same manner as you, but there is so long my body can withstand the increased feroicity of the ice. After a while I am inflicted with an ailment I called Frostburn"

"Frostburn?"

"It's a unique condition of when the ice begins to burn my skin, causing purple marks to spread. The pain can be...quite debilitating if allowed to build. My body naturally heals it after a period of time"

"Worth noting...then I'll trust you to look after yourself"

Saku rubbed his arms "We'll work on how we can co-ordinate during the battle, some techniques come easier when under pressure. How long can you maintain your current state?"

"Since I am not engaging in combat" said Aeron "the stress of my power is low. I'd say an hour, maybe two"

"Alright then, and any new abilities like this?" Aeron thrust out her hand to generate a dual scythe that she twirl "You can freely create weapons?"

"Not aura weapons, but ones fashioned from the ice. I can create ice-formations and so long I'm not interrupted shatter them at will" Aeron said breaking her scythe "During the battle I could even supply you with a weapon"

"Right then" said Zarla coming forth "Saku why not try your tuner powers with Aeron's power? It could be advantageous to see what can be done"

Saku nodded and generated the tuners "Well...Seraphim is out. Ice is still water and that makes wings heavy and unable to fly, frozen wings even worse oh wait that's a point. Your wings are frosty right, so how can they fly?" Aeron gestured out a wing to Saku

"My feathers are thicker than most" said Aeron "So it's true that water would soak into them and weigh them, but I can glaze the feathers in a frost aura coating. Though I can't fly as freely, my performance reduced by a third, I can maintain flight in the snow"

"Right...let's try Conductor" Saku employed the conductor state and immediately shivered "ahh, ahhh...bad idea, bad idea!" he went to normal state "Whoa...jeez..."