Lovers' Quarrel, But More Wholesome [Erica, Ranma]

They were both doing a lot of thinking… wrinkling their brains, until Erica spoke up! Her first sentence was like gospel… despite how simple it was! Damn it, Ranma!

He did try to modify these spells after he’d cast them. The Shitotsu Sansen was cast normally – he just pulled one edge after it was already formed, so that fell within her theory. The same with this Shakkahō – he’d already formed it, and he was actively changing its size afterwards. “I see… okay, lemme give it a try,” Ranma spoke, simply letting the current Shakkahō disappear into the air.

Visualization required brain power, and everybody knew Ranma thought best when his eyes were closed. Bad habit, he knew, but bear with it… so for now, he just wanted to see if it’d work. Just a smaller Shakkahō – like a really small one… yeah, like a dot of bright red! He could see it in his mind!

“Ye lord… mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man… inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south. Hadō #31: Shakkahō.”

Opening one palm, his creation bore fruit – a mini-Shakkahō, born small and remaining small. No need to alter its size after it was already created, because it already had the right size! “It worked! See? It’s a mini-hō… hihi. Okay, let me try and make two…”

A lot of chanting going on for the time being, but Ranma wanted to make sure that the spell felt comfortable and solid. No need to drop the chants when he was experimenting a new field. “… Hadō #31: Shakkahō,” he finished the chant, clearly imagining two red dots the size of orbees above his palm. And from his opened palm…

The two Shakkahōs were formed – not as small as he’d hoped, though. Since he gave the spell its due respects and actually chanted the whole thing, there was a lot of power to compress – while splitting it into two, it proved harder in practice. Especially for his few first times trying it… but he did split it in two now. “Fffffffffair? It’s split in two now, so that’s cool… just wished it was smaller, could be used like a sly little surprise attack, but this could work too.”

Ranma picked himself back up and launched the two Shakkahōs into the air, watching them collide with each other and result in a sizable explosion of fire. “… That’s sooooooo coooooooooool! Let’s try that again!”

And again… and again…

“Erica! It’s like shooting two Shakkahōs at the same time! I-I mean, that’s what it is, but y’know, like normal- ah, how do I explain this shit, uhhh… the whole visualization thing really works wo- wait, that sounds exactly what Hinamori-sensei said. Must be a common strat…”

True… somebody came up with this spell. Way, way, wayyyyyyyyyy long ago. They must’ve been super-creative and talented to be able to just come up with a spell like this – sort of like how talented Morikawa-sense and Hinamori-sensei were.

Ranma already wanted to make more… more and more Shakkahōs… but Beetle came to mind. Not just her, but the rest of Squad 8 popped up in his head. He felt that drive again, the same drive that drove him to stay up all night shooting red blasts in the air, but… he couldn’t just do an all-nighter at Erica’s place. That’d be just as rude as what he did in Squad 8 – he’d learned from that.

So… what now?

“Hey… any new spells you’ve been trying out lately? If you want, I can be of assistance… h-hopefully not as a meat shield.”

I mean, Erica was way more talented with Kidō than he, so maybe she was at a comfortable spot, being able to cast the powerful spells and alter her lower-ranked spells with the freedom she had. However, she mentioned wanting to modify a defensive Bakudō spell, but due to its high ranking, she’d found it difficult to test out without a partner needing to fire spells at her…

“I-I can try. Yeah, you’re right – I mean, I know for a fact you’re tougher than you look,” Ranma commented, “-What I meant by that, I mean, I know you’re strong, Erica… I wasn’t trying to patronize or anything, I really mean it! For real!”

The spell’s name was Danku, a spell to summon a wall of defense. She wanted to reshape it into a shield form, maybe make it smaller and more mobile, or maybe even coat it around her body as armor. That was… a lot of alterations, far more than whatever Ranma could perform, but he could tell that she was fired up to try it out. Kidō was her muse and strength, just like Zanjutsu was his.

“Then let’s give it a shot. I’ll ready up a couple Shakkahō for you, so make the best Danku you could ever make!” he promised her, skipping the chant and merely calling out the name, “Hadō #31: Shakkahō!” He just needed two small Shakkahōs, he could always make a bigger one later… but he witnessed the fruits.

Two, small Shakkahōs between his hands, ready to be lunged at her. With a nod, he signaled that he was ready.

81! That Bakudō was the 81st – leaps and bounds beyond anything he’d tried yet. She really meant business now…

He witnessed the grey wall wrap itself around her, first like a dome of protection over her form. Soon, it wrapped itself closer to her form, which honestly baffled him – without breaking it or cracking anywhere, she was capable of altering a Bakudō spell at such a caliber. And nothing blew up in her face, what a genius!

“It’s… actually wrapped like armor… it's a bit like Morikawa-sensei's spell,” he pondered in awe at the sight of her… mhm… I mean, it definitely provided defense, but he kinda missed gazing at her form under her Shihakushō now. Even if he’d already seen it all once, there was something magical about how clothes complemented curves… and all that. Oh well, he could try to break the wall with his dual Shakkahō!

“Here we go… hope this works!” he declared, launching one Shakkahō towards her center, then the other to follow suit with the first one. The two small orbs, while lower in power than usual, appeared to benefit from the smaller sizes by flying faster towards her armor, colliding with her Bakudō in rapid fashion!

Please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work-

Her spell trick… worked! It worked! Hallelujah! “This calls for a jubilation! Aaaaaaaaaand haaaaaaalleluuuuuuuuu-“

That was when tragedy struck – while high off the sheer joy of being smacked in the face with the radiant sun that was Erica’s purifying smile, Ranma heard the crack. Something broke, he knew that sound too well… and then, her bent wall case just began crumbling off, fading away into the air. Given that his Shakkahō was at about 50% strength then and there, that must’ve meant…

The armor she tried to make was faulty. The polar last thing he wanted it to be.

It appeared that Ranma was more distraught over it than Erica herself. His face was greyed, saddened, as if he’d lost a big game. “A-Ah… a-…” his voice cracked here and there, tuning itself back to normal once Erica’s optimism rubbed off on him, “I-I’m sure you’ll get it right after a few tries~! Or you could try your luck with Morikawa-sensei’s new spell, but… it looks more armor-y than what you did. Hmh…”

What… would be easier for Erica? Something told him that it was obvious – Dankū was a spell he was familiar with, but Seikotsu Sōkō had that it-factor, y’know…

“… Fuck, what would be better?” Ranma asked himself, having to sit down in a cross-legged position with his arms crossed in deep, deep brain-grinding, “Morikawa-sensei’s spell is ultra-hard, I still can’t even manifest the entire armor- much less make it last longer than I do in bed- but Dankū might be easier to pull off…”

…

Steam was escaping Ranma’s ears at one point, signaling that he’d reached his mental limits. “Bleeeeeeeeh… guuuuuuuuuuu- wait, I KNOW!” he suddenly lit his eyes on fire, figuratively of course, “Try that Bakudō again… but only your arm. Just cover your arm with, like, an arm guard made of Dankū. Should make it easier to maintain.”