#how luna summons all the astrals

[starbop]

How SMELLY all the Honkai Boys are...

Here's my ranking of HSR boys based on how much I think they smell. Explanations + headcanons below the cut!

The Top Stinkers

Caelus literally digs through garbage for fun. I don't think I need to defend their spot as the #1 stinkiest mf in this whole game. 11/10 on the stink scale.

Sampo also has the energy of someone who enjoys garbage. I, for one, have no idea where that thing has been and I don't think I want to know. He is also known to hide in piles of snow when need be, meaning he's just out there rolling around on the ground sometimes. 10/10 would not sniff again.

Luka is the sweatiest man alive. But he looks SO good doing it. The sparks and smoke his arm produces, while very cool to look at, do not help his smelliness rating. 8/10 because he at least has good reasons for smelling funky.

I do not think Blade has ever taken a shower. You could fry a whole chicken with the oil from his hair. 9/10.

Boothill smells like a mixture of motor oil, grease, and sweat. Not a smell I would personally hate, but objectively not a good one. Yeehaw/10.

The Smelly

I feel like, in theory, you could smell like anything in the Dreamscape. I just also feel like Gallagher would not choose to smell good. 7/10.

I really want to believe that he'd smell good, but the second he finishes his magical girl transformation sequence, Imbibitor Lunae reeks with the smell of seaweed. I will deduct a stinky point from my initial rating because some people may think this smells good. They are wrong. 7/10.

Neutral Smelling

Yanqing should reek from all the time he spends fighting and training, but Jing Yuan is not letting that boy leave the house without taking a bath. 6/10.

Arlan bathes regularly, but I can't imagine him having a particularly strong smell. Asta will occasionally gift him some lightly scented soaps, though. If anything, he smells vaguely like Peppy. 5/10.

Gepard might get a little sweaty under all those layers, but he doesn't have a strong scent one way or the other. 4/10.

I Am Sniffing Respectfully

I just KNOW that the Astral Express has the nicest bathrooms in the universe. Dan Heng and Welt stay smelling FRESH. 3/10.

(Though Dan Heng has ended up smelling like bubblegum on a few occasions after borrowing March's shampoo...)

Misha smells like a sweet dream. I don't know what dreams smell like, but that's the only way to describe Misha's scent. Vaguely like cotton candy, perhaps. Ethereal/10.

Jing Yuan takes bubble baths with Mimi and you can NOT change my mind. I can totally picture him dozing off peacefully after a nice, warm bath. I-can-overlook-the-cat-hair/10.

We've seen Ratio take SO many baths at this point that I don't think you could find a single speck of dirt on that man's perfect body if you tried. How are his fingers not just permanently pruney? I hate him so much. 1/10.

I AM SNIFFING DISRESPECTFULLY

Argenti smells like roses and sunshine. 0/10 smelliness can I please bottle your sweat sir

Luocha has to smell great with all those flowers he summons. I would grind him down to make potpourri. Not sure about the coffin, though. -2/10.

And as for Aventurine? Cologne. SO much cologne. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you, but he certainly has A Smell. Subjective/10.

[lavenderr-starrs]

God I love Solomon Muto so freaking much man, the ideas this event is giving me in Duel Links, of just, him going through gate to gate wanting to see all these Wonderful and unique cards and how he’s interacting with the DM gang treating them ALL as if they were his grandkids not just Yugi. They even call him grandpa which is something I just love about it in the show, because he’s not just yugis grandpa he’s a grandpa to ALL DUELISTS, Haha!

Makes me wonder over him interacting with other characters from other series because he’s just in AWE over all these cards and new summoning method, and being SUCH a grandpa for some of these kids.

Especially my fav little fucked up ones!!

He goes to learn Synchro summoning and meets Yusei and team 5ds, and them just going “Whoa! 😯 It’s the King of games Grandfather!!” , I wanna see him be all sweet with akiza, my girl needs it, and with how kind and wise he is? Girl probably gonna hold back a few tears Haha!! How he encouraged Tea/Anzu and Jou to follow their dreams in the event, is encouraging her to follow hers as well with that warm grandfather charm and support!!

Akiza: 🥹🥹🥹

Would absolutely ADORE Leo and Luna, Leo wants to show off SO badly and wants to be the one to teach him synchro summoning and Solomon is just giggling and smiling warmly at the boys antics!

Oh yeah he’s telling them embarrassing stories about Yugi, maybe pull up baby pictures, he seems like he would—

He meets Yuma and astral and Astral just adores card game grandpa, I’m just imagining him huddled up close to Solomon as he talks about old duel monster strats and old stories of his younger days and Yuma just wants to get outta there but he can’t cause Astral for some reason is so invested!!

Yuma shows off his Xyz summoning and is happily jumping all over the places by all of Solomon’s “Oohs” and “Ahhs” and his compliments to Yuma and his Dueling skills, oh wait nope, here comes bronk here to tease Yuma to Duel Grandpa about the 50 times Yuma lost to him.

But duel grandpa just gives his little hearty chuckle and gives his grandpa wisdom about how Yuma not staying down after every loss after loss just proves how strong of duelist he is or smth.

Yuma: 🥹🥹🥹

Haha! Or just him meeting shark, with him getting all grouchy and being, well, shark, tries to shoo Solomon away but he tries to get him to duel him after he learns how to Xyz summon, grandpa— as old and frail as he’s played off to be—is challenging shark, heck maybe even teasingly calling him chicken (or guppy, HA!!’) and sharks not having it, what? Kite got to throw hands with middle schoolers! So he’s allowed to throw hands with the elderly!

Whether he wins or loses Shark eventually comes to respect the old man! (Also Rio WILL be gossiping with Solomon and she WILL talk shit about shark to the Dueling grandpa)

I feel like if he met Cathy he’d be confused but supportive, “Well whatever makes you happy! Hoho! Children should be able to have fun in their own way!” Or smth like that. It needs to be said he is giving ALL of Yuma and friends old games he’d sell in his shop and shows them all how to play it ASTRAL INCLUDED ☝️ and it’s a fun little bonding time for the kiddos! They taught him Xyz Summoning he teaches them the joy of classic games!

He learns about pendulum summoning and action duels and wants to jump in on an action duel immediately!! But unfortunately Dueling grandpa isn’t a PARKOUR dueling grandpa 😔 He got them old bone hips…

But he still wishes to watch them!! Absolutely adores them!!

He meets Yuya and is just in AWE over the fact he invented pendulum summoning and just adores how upbeat and sweet the kid is!

Sylvio is just absorbing every compliments and praise from him! He wants him to watch every action duel, turbo duel, tag duel, or WHATEVER duel he performs, he wants all of his compliments and praise!!!(Listen man, old people have got to be putting SOMETHING in their compliments!! I get all giddy when someone’s grandparent compliments me bro, best feeling ever, I held the door open for this lovely grandmother this one time and she goes “Oh thank you sweetie such a lovely and kind girl you are!” I F*CKING ASCENDED MAN 😭)

Sora is indifferent to Solomon, unless he’s got that good old people candy, or just has any kind of candy in his game shop gives him +100 of his respect, especially if Solomon gives it to him for free ✊ free candy is ALWAYS sweeter.

The Vrains casts, OOOOH, my fav little fucked up bbys oh how I adore thee (and thine angsts)

Someone save the grandpa the modern meta and link summoning are gonna give him a heart attack bigger then the one Seto gave him oh god!!—

Watches one of blue angels shows and is buying merchandise and just gushing over her dueling skills and her monsters, would probably show Tea/Anzu too he definitely wants to ask Blue Angel if she’d want to sponsor his game shop XDD

He finds out about the Avatar function and IMMEDIATELY makes an Avatar of his younger days, buuuut it takes him a few hours (and yugis help) to figure out how HAHA!!

If he encounters playmaker he is so CONFUSED over Ai at first, but instantly adores him and joins him on his jokes and gags, treats Ai respectfully and as a person too.

Ai would call him Grandpap’s or some funny lil nickname for Mr. Muto, Adores how Solomon will take his side! And he’ll just go “Yeah you heard him! Respect your elders!” HAHA, he’s just behind Solomon’s shoulder with the SMUGEST face his little creature face can pull.

I’m imagining if He witnesses one of Playmaker and Ais classic banters I could see him going “Now, Now son, that’s no way to talk to your partner!”

“Huh?- i- uh-“

“YEAH PLAYMAKER, That’s no way to talk to your partner >:3” <- I can HEAR the smug tone in this LMAO

Soulburner is very respectful to Solomon, and Solomon will talk about his grandson and his friends to him telling him how he reminds him of some of yugis friends. I could definitely see Soulburner respectfully try to help him learn how to ride a duel board, Sol tech has got to have made easy beginner areas for speed dueling. right?

Tell him about the lost incident and he is going on an adoption speedrun 💕

No joke, I want to witness Solomon Muto VERBALLY BERATE Dr. Kogami’s bitch ass 💕💗😘 He is kicking his ass in the after life (JUMP HIS ASS GRANDPA GET HIS SHOES ☝️🗣️🗣️🗣️)

Speaking of which, I want him to give Ryoken a FULL ASS GRANDPARENT LECTURE. Ryoken is reluctantly forced to be lectured and have this impromptu therapy session with someone’s grandparent and it’s working, because it’s Solomon Muto people where did you think Yugi got his kindness and wisdom from? He finna shape this boy with kindness the same way Yugi shaped Yami/Atem with kindness! 😤

And once again he still wants to learn about all these new cards and what not and im just adoring the fact that if he ever were to meet spectre and learn about his Sunavalons and if spectre were to bring up his mother tree and his attachment to his Cards/Momster (hehe get it-)

Solomon would not judge, he’d completely understand, he would talk to spectre about his Blue eyes card how much it meant to him, (and of course about the heart of the cards! )He knows his connection and attachment to his beloved blue eyes card isn’t the same as his attachment to his sunavalon tree’s but he understands where spectre is coming from and how he feels and he also shares that same feeling he’d felt when his sunavalon tree would be destroyed just like how when Seto ripped up his bwd.

Spectre:🥹🥹🥹

HAHA, had to lol-

Anyways that’s just my little word ramble and thoughts~ does it make sense? No. Does it have proper grammar? No. Did I just wanna ramble about a grandpa in a card game Whos literally just an old guy princess peach? Yes. I like Solomon Muto 👍 HAHA, anyway back to murdering people with trickstars to duel the grandpa teehee~ 💕

[isleepatfiveam]

FFXV Playthrough Update

Got pretty long so more under the cut.

But can I ask for like some beginner advice from people who played it before? Like I think I finally figured out some stuff but the more normal button controls are still a bit iffy for me.

Thanks in advance ☺️!

Session Nov 2, 2024:

Did some story quests today. And made it to Chapter 5, where I fought Titan in my longest fight (mostly due to not knowing how I was supposed to destory a giant gods arm with 4 dumbasses), found out Ardyn has a freaking car (presumably stolen from Aldercapt's garage) and followed him in a race, bonded with Gladio (confused as to why they didn't actually name Gladio's dad) got Luna healing people in the weirdest outfit I've ever seen (why does she have a belt in a straight dress) and got my car stolen (Regis is rolling in his grave) leading me to fight a big one eyed monster to get a chocobo riding service.

Did some side quests and had to deal with like 8+ sets of Magitek soldiers when I was just trying to get a stone for a sleezy amateur jewel maker...*sigh* anyone know the spawn rates of Magitek soldiers dropping from the sky?

Had a wonderful heart to heart with Prompto and fucked up the mail choice for Luna's journal. I have a favorite Blond and it certainly not Luna.

Also got this pretty cool picture of Ardyn. Leads me to ask where is his iconic hat because he still doesn't have it.

Session Nov 3, 2024:

Focused more on Main quests today and boy was Chapter 5 a loooong one. Finally got to ride my chocobo all day~ (looking for name suggestions for her BTW)

Did Ramuh's quest and got some adorable li'l Noct cutscenes. Also got attacked by a snake lady which DID NOT GIVE ME XP!!!! I CALL BULL WITH THAT!

(Also small theory that this was originally supposed to be Prom's bio mom when they thought that Evil Science Guy was supposed to be Prom's bio son instead of genetic template).

Finished Ramuh's Quest and got Noct's eyes to glow purple then committed Base Terrorism to get our car back. Also finally feed the guys.

Since they introduced the warp-kill skill in this one I dressed Noct in the Assassin robes. Also I got to play with the turrets in the base. It was real fun.

Ramuh saved our asses when we had to blow up the Generator in the base once again proving he is best Summon/Eikon/Astral in all FF games.

Finished Base Terrorism, meet Revus but more importantly Ardyn got his HAT!!!!!

(Side note I assumed that he was going to put on his hat after telling the Chocobros that he was the Chancellor, with the Hat being his symbolic crown and all. But I digress).

Finished up this chapter by Heading to talk to Iris and finding out that Jarred was dead then seeing the Omen Trailer. Weird but go off I guess.

Next time Iris joins us as a temporary party member and boy am I excited.

See you guys next time!

[lunaelotus]

wuhei asked:

" we all make mistakes, and we all pay a price. "

He did not have a lot to say on the subject. He remembered now, he knew why and it still only made him wish to distance himself from the life that Dan Feng had lived. He glanced to the shadow though and gave him a small smile and a dip of his head. "This is just a fact of life…only our people, continue to be punished if they have done things to bring about such tragedies." he stated.

His had been almost unforgiveable in his hubris.

Dan Heng crossed his arms over his chest and looked out over the water. His eyes on the sparkling waves and he could still feel the ease to pull them to summon the wind. It was not quiet over powering once he had accepted this. Now it was learning to not over influence anything. In a way it was like learning how to walk all over again.

Only on a mystical level.

He folded his hands into the long robes and his tail swished under them coiling. "I know you did not come here to hear my wax and wan on my own inner thoughts." the imbibitor lunae said with a tip of his head. The small chains he had allowed Bailu to put on his horns early chimed with the motion, he would need to remember to take those off later.

"Is there anything I can help you with ?" he asked "I know the Astral Express will not be here for very long."

@wuhei

[sleepyorchidmonster]

Remember the "Last line Challenge?"

Tagging @banterismylovelanguage , @isnt-it-pretty and @canonical-transformation because I'm about to ramble about the story.

So, imagine if, in a future installment of Star Rail, we face off against another one of the Lord Ravagers (Irontomb in this case).

However, this time they're targeting Nous and all of the cyberspace, after all, is there anything more destructive than erasing all manner of communication and data between worlds? Everything would plunge into chaos.

Let's say that their choice of attack is using the denizens of propagation (Tanzzyroth), as literal bugs in the system, similar to how Phantylia used the Abundance to destroy the Luofu.

This would happen in Hertha Space Station (or anywhere that's related to the Genius Society). And, although we would have Hertha and Screwllum on our side, only the Trailblazer would actually be able to enter.

The bossfight has 5 stages, one for each firewall we have to bypass (the bugs ate most of the wall but we have to get to Nous).

The first is a 2d platformer where we have to avoid the bugs and find the first entrance, then the second is a simulated universe themed encounter with plenty of riddles, the third one is to literally "surf the internet" (think of a mix between Elysia's Herrscher music video and the first half of Dvalin fight).

During each of the stages, we can see Silver Wolf's chibis hiding in the background, sometimes even giving tips on how to proceed.

The last two stages are the actual bossfight, the first round is basically the Traiblazer and Silver Wolf, who joins the fight, against the Lord Ravager, with the two of them being the last line of defense between him and Nous. (The other character slots are locked).

It's just us, the Emanator of Destruction and everyone that is watching because the whole thing is being livestreamed to the entire Galaxy. (Something something let me crush all your remaining hopes by defeating the resistance in front of your eyes.)

The first round ends with everyone almost dying, only to be saved by Nous (and Silver Wolf usung her chibi friends as a respawn feature). The background changes to the Simulated Universe, Screwllum's disembodied voice is giving us directions, and we can now choose the last two party members from the ranks of the Nameless and Stellaron Hunters (you can only choose one from each faction, though).

Turns out that our friends in the Astral Express and the Stellaron Hunters have been trying to hack their way into the fight as soon as the livestream started, Welt was doing his best while the Mara got the best of Blade and he decided to headbutt the monitors to see if they were portals, Kafka wasn't fast enough, though Elio prophesised that the devices had to go, so no harm done.

Anyway, Nous noticed their efforts and decided to help out, by giving them gsme controllers and letting them pick a fighter. Notice that Blade is awful at any games so his character acts erratically, think Donald from Kingdom Hearts. He is playing on a Wii remote. Help him.

Nous summons all of the Genius Society, represented as shooting stars, as an extra attack, similar to the Engine of Creation or Inhibitor Lunae. Sometimes we get a different effect based on the Genius Society member, like a freeze reaction for Hertha.

We manage to beat the Lord Ravager and return to the real world for some much needed rest (the Stellaron Hunters don't have to worry about their bounties for a bit because they did help save an Aeon so they've been temporarily pardoned).

And that's how Silver Wolf returns home to see all of the monitors destroyed, leading to Kafka's line: "Sorry sweetie, Bladie destroyed all of the monitors!"

The funny thing is that I had all of this thought out before the 1.3 trailer. And now we're getting Tanzzyroth bugs in Simulated Universe!

[gemkun]

@oneireth said : [ META ] + his vidyadhara form ( powers, thoughts on his appearance, whatever ) for dh :) ♢      —        send  [ META ] + a word / phrase / person / etc

personally , he prefers his human form , but that doesn’t mean he dislikes his vidyadhara appearance. his true being , well , there is a detachment from the nameless , which is where he feels at home and himself in. of course , the astral crew members have said otherwise , and accept him for who he is , scales and all , but dan heng still has this inward perception regarding his origin.

focusing on his vidyadhara self , we can analyse these sections with a breakdown.

powers : even if he is not an emanator , he is “ the closest being to the permanence ”. having been cut from dan feng’s powers , in canon it can be inferred that those powers were split between him and bailu — where the archivist received powers of combat whilst the dragon lady received healing abilities. that being said , he hasn’t undergone proper training of harnessing this passed down residual power , and with the absence of technique , the immensity of his powers are likely unmet in terms of their true potential. if it wasn't explicit enough , this means he is absolutely weaker than dan feng. fun note : dan feng was a smidge stronger than jing yuan but where dan heng is , the general is definitely higher. he might sit where welt is in terms of power across the characters in hsr.

appearance : it cannot be denied that the imbibitor lunae ensemble is extravagant. his robes alone are exquisite in their finery , and their intricate patterns weave a combination of symbols and tales. comparing dan feng’s garb to dan heng’s , there are plenty of differences with some being subtle whilst the others are noticeable.

i looked to this article which assessed an assortment of aspects regarding dan heng’s imbibtor lunae form , and i think it’s quite spot on. hoyo is notorious for sprinkling significant notes via inconspicuous details. the most obvious would be the clouds and lotus that are motifs for nobility and water which is attributed to wisdom , intelligence and quintessentially yin. neither can the equipment attached to his clothing that resembles armour be missed — indicative of the combat dan feng participated in , as both guard and a member of the high — cloud quintet.

green , in not only chinese culture , but in general is representative of vitality and life and i would argue emphasises his link to protecting the ambrosial arbour. speaking of , his horns are noticeably branch — like , and longer than dan feng’s , which elucidates to his role and perhaps , signifies growth. the growth of himself , however , which dan feng permitted in ichor ( although this was dan heng’s perception of what the preceptors had painted so we cannot use this reliably ). i also think the waist accessory of the oracle bone script is a hint at his position as the archivist but it could potentially be a sign that visualises how he balances between bearing the burdens of dan feng against carrying out the remainder of his life as a nameless — the bad luck vs the good luck.

his tail ( the one i know you were waiting on ) , is something i have always debated on as to whether it is a fully manifested appendage that he is capable of summoning or not , or is simply fluid in appearance staying true to his watery roots. the element he is bound to. when bailu pointed out the stark absence of it , and dan heng became rather withdrawn , i think it does spell out he can bring it out on command , but elects not to. otherwise , it is a proper and tangible limb.

i think ultimately , dan heng does accept and acknowledge the debt he has inherited , as well as the responsibility and role the high elder brings , but he cannot deny that it feels unlike him. in both regalia and in the inward sense the form brings.

it has its benefits , no doubt , especially on the battlefield when faced with powerful adversaries , but if he can fend off the enemy in his human build and with cloud — piercer , then he will opt for this choice instead.

[antimatterz]

Enyo! Thank you for the kind good luck you sent in your reply. My Dan Heng is getting stronger. I just maxed some of his relics and he started dealing 2000 damage. I don't know what to say but I am happy. I want to pat him in the head and praise him and the others for doing their best today. And welcome to the team Sushang! I finally decided to level her up after I lost Tingyun to her in Jing Yuan's banner.

Also, the fic made me melt especially Blade's. He sounds so cute in it. It makes me want to tease him. Not only him but also Dan Heng. Sampo is all over you and embarrassing you one way or another with his loud dramatic comments to even tease him. I don't think I can tease Jing Yuan, I'll be too busy blushing at him just existing. Him smiling as soon as he sees you online again, that soft and gentle look in his eyes and you're at loss of words.

I’m delighted that you got inspired with that random musing. I just can't help think of them being “alive” and hearing you through the screen. Me who thinks that my stuffs toys are alive, I might as well delude myself that they have “life”. And the delusion worsens when something out of the ordinary happens with your favorite character and you think they are responding to you in some way.

Maybe it's just a stroke of luck for my Dan Heng but he needs to take responsibility for dragging me to Honkai Star Rail. This man did not only made me dream of him but also made me fall for his looks, his voice, voice overs, and something about him being knowledgeable and his reserved personality. I guess, I found my ideal type already. I can't help but stress that he came home thrice as I prayed he'll come home — imagine pulling on a 5 star banner for a 4 star character. That's me too on Silver Wolf's banner when I saw Dan Heng in it. So, I don't know how to feel if he leaves the astral express when he becomes Imbibitor Lunae. I might still be able to play him, yes, but I feel sad thinking about it. Wahhh...

ooh yes i remember being so proud when dan heng hit his first 1k ! i yelled about it to my friends who don't even play hsr? they were like enyo chill out who even is dan heng 😭 ( which resulted in me spamming them with pictures ofc ) and aaa i feel you !! sometimes i randomly praise them when they do good damage, let me be delusional and pretend they can hear me ok ? and ooh is sushang a good ? i got her e6 as i was pulling for tingyun and i'm like, should i use her ? the fact that she summons a whole angry chicken is so funny shdhjs

i'm glad you liked it ! it was kinda written for you since you inspired me to write it hehe. i had so much fun imagining this scenario with them ( and i already got a follow-up request on this so i'm not done with this self aware au ^^ )

okay but i do that too ? the entire life stories my plushies have to hear on a daily basis is insane but i can't help it they're such good listeners lol. we can be delusional together nonnie, it's okay !

i'm the same,, i've been playing genshin since release and my brother one day went like "yo the developers of genshin brought out a new game, did you already download it ?" and i was like nahh but i got curious, did some research, saw dan heng and was like DUDE i'm gonna play this game,, and then i found out he was one of the free characters and i think i ascended from happiness sjdjfh he's just so perfect and i fully relate to you. his looks, his personality, his voice, he's just so hhh i'm down bad for him nonnie ;_; WAIT HE'S GONNA GO ? okay i was already afraid of that happening but i'm not ready for it to ACTUALLY happen help ??

[mistress-light]

Final Fantasy XV OST Volume 2 - Advent of the Apocalypse  

[berrydoodleoo]

prepare to live again

So much to do today: kill memory, kill pain, turn heart into a stone, and yet prepare to live again.

In her teenage years, Luna had a rare row with Gentiana. Although it wasn’t quite accurate to call it a row; Luna had yelled, and the Goddess had listened. The Goddess always listened.

She was frustrated with the constant invasions of her privacy, a fifteen-year-old girl living under the Empire’s thumb. Ravus treated her like a child, full of scorn and ugly sarcasm when he was home. Her tutors were cold and demanding, and threatened to beat her if they caught her praying. The MTs stared at her constantly, their heads turning to follow her if she so much as crossed the room. When she and Ravus fought, they pointed their weapons at her when she raised her voice, no matter how often he ordered them not to. She was tired of it all.

Gentiana smiled sympathetically, eyes peacefully closed. She promised to come only when Luna called her: “But say Our name,” she said, soothing and soft, “and We shall be with you. Will this ease the girl’s troubled heart?”

“Yes,” Luna said, and felt the MTs staring, and really meant no. She wished her mother was there. She would have understood.

~

Luna summons Leviathan prepared to die, but she does not. A year-and-a-half after she closed her eyes for what she thought was the final time, she awakens to a dying world. Her first thought is what did I do wrong?

When she  is coherent enough to recognize her surroundings and has breath enough to speak and strength to sit, she calls for Gentiana. Even before Ravus, she calls for Gentiana. But Gentiana does not head her call. Ravus does -- yanked away from some mission, disbelieving the sight before his eyes -- and Pryna and Umbra have been at her side all along. An assortment of nurses have tended her through her long sleep, and people have sent her tokens and letters from around there. But there is nothing from Gentiana.

The dogs whine and tilt their heads when she asks where the Goddess is. Divine though they may be, they are still dogs, and some things are beyond them.

Ravus, who wept when he saw her and held her for hours, is clearly frustrated by her questions about the Astrals. He would clearly prefer that she forget all about them, or even learn to hate them as he does. But he can’t bring himself to wound or deny her in any way. After putting her off for as long as he can, he gives in and shares the photos that he has collected of Gentiana -- most of them sent to him by Prompto, or a handful of others who know what to look for.

“I did not tell them to,” Ravus says, crisp and annoyed. “They assumed I would want to know. I didn’t. I don’t.” He scowls.

“Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much," Luna murmured. He turned his glare on her, but there was no heat behind it. He had kept the photos, after all.

They are surprisingly numerous. The Goddess appears as she always has, overlooked in the background, beautifully garbed and deceptively serene, even as her surroundings grow darker and more chaotic. The most recent is just a week or so old.

Luna has been awake for nearly a month. Bitter, she puts that photo aside.

One was clipped by Ravus’ own hand. It’s from what passes for a newspaper in this blighted world, a handful of papers with rushed stories and black-and-white photos, stapled together and passed from hand to hand, outpost to outpost, till they traveled around the world. It shows a riot in Lestallum in the first few months after the night began. On one side, a blurry Gentiana -- a ‘well-dressed woman’ according to the caption -- stands over a frightened family, one arm casually raised, catching a blow from a greatsword larger than her entire body. Where the metal edge touches her arm, a soft glow emits, and there is no sign of blood or injury.

Across the street, another huddled family is being mowed down by a man with a gun. The photo, a rare color snapshot, captured the bloom of their blood, their desperate scramble to shield one another, but not the carnage of their death. For a small mercy. Luna supposed it wouldn’t have been published otherwise.

Luna stares at the photo until her vision blurs. Why did you make that choice? she asks her old friend. Why save this family and not that one? Why not everyone? Is it all just random to you? Why do you do any of it at all?

And still the Goddess does not reply.

~

Ignis writes her a letter, asking about the vision she passed to him through Pryna. Luna holds the note and wonders if that was where she went wrong. She caught a glimpse of the future, and pushed through from the other side to pass it along to the first soul she recognized.

A bit of unplanned defiance. She was always prepared to die, but she hadn’t realized that Noctis would be required to sacrifice himself as well. It had staggered her, the sight of it, horror ringing like a bell. He was so young, so handsome, so beloved -- he deserved to live, surely he deserved to live. She had reacted instinctively, in full defiance of the Astrals.

Only the Oracle was permitted the prophecies, the visions, the voices of the gods. And yet they had lied even to her, about this most important of truths. About the destination of the path she had set Noctis upon.

Is this why you’re avoiding me, Gentiana? she wonders darkly. Are you too ashamed to look me in the eye?

Noctis is far away, locked in crystal, but he isn’t dead yet. And for some reason, neither is she.

~

From the day she awoke, flowers began arriving. Like the newspapers, they travel from outpost to outpost, charting a circuitous route to the humble ruins of Fenestala Manor. Ravus reads the cards with her, sharing anecdotes and observations about the ruined world.

“It can’t be that bad, if there are still flowers blooming,” Luna says, burying her nose in the blossoms.

Ravus shrugs, one-shouldered, and changes the subject.

“Oh, no, milady,” her young nurse says, when Luna asks later if they can visit where the flowers are growing. “None of them survived. These blooms come from the greenhouses used for food -- even in Lestallum, the most crowded greenhouses have a few sylleblossoms growing. For you.” She curtsies.

She means it kindly. Luna, horrified, stammers out her thanks, and retreats to the safe world beneath her blankets.

~

Why does she live, when so many have perished? How dare she accept these gifts -- they might as well be food snatched from starving children. How many fruits or vegetables could have been grown in their place? How dare she live, when others have died, when Noctis is imprisoned in stone? Why is she not dead yet?

She cries and cries, turning away food, unnerving her nurses. She never notices that -- in her presence -- the flowers do not wither, as if nurtured by some secret light.

~

Her recovery falters. She is too weak and listless to finish the exercises the doctors give her. She passes out, falling into a seizure, and a panicked Ravus is rushed to her side.

He flounders and fumbles in the presence of her deathly, bitter rage. She wonders aloud if she should be left to die -- if that would help bring the dawn back -- and he weeps again. Shocked and quiet, like a scolded child, she apologizes, but can’t find the strength or insight to make things right.

Ravus leaves, but ensures that someone stays with her, as if he worries that she will hurt herself. If only she could summon the energy, she might.

He returns quickly, still issuing orders to their band of loyal hunters. Luna lets herself be loaded into a wheelchair, and then a truck, and asks no questions. Everyone avoids her eyes.

They make a journey to the former sylleblossom fields, now full of desiccated, rotting husks. The smell is horrendous. They disembark, and halfway to their destination, Luna realizes she knows where they are going. Something in her expression must give her away: “Demons avoid the area,” Ravus explains. “The fading magic from Oracle’s tombs creates a haven of sorts. But it’s weak. We haven’t much time."

The hunters escorting them glare into the darkness watchfully. Luna’s wheelchair rolls and bumps along, rattling her from side to side like a pile of bones. She thinks she might fall to the earth and starve to death alongside the sylleblossoms’ remains. Surely even that monstrous fate that would be kinder that this pointless lingering.

~

Their mother’s beautiful resting place is desolate and dying now, washed in endless greenish darkness. Like everything else. Luna’s stoicism fades at the sight of the dying trees, and she is already weeping when they reach the monument.

She sinks to her knees before the grave without prompting, and Ravus kneels at her side. She is crying too hard to speak, so he recites the prayer for peace and rest, a duty that had always fallen to her before. She hadn’t realized he knew the words.

For a moment of silence, Luna sits with her hands clasped, head bowed. For once, she asks not for divine truth or grand understanding, but simple mortal facts. Did you know? she asks her mother. Did you know I was supposed to die? Did you know about Noctis? Did you accept it all? And then, weeping again, how could you let this happen? Why aren’t you here? Why did you die and leave me here? And then, a secret she’s kept even from herself: I thought I would see you again. I thought I would be done. I would die and everything would be made right -- everyone would be saved -- Ravus would be healed and Noctis would think of me fondly, close our journal, and step into the sun, and no one would miss me at all--

Her tears have run out, finally, leaving her empty and cold. What do I do now? she asks, pitiful and small, just like a child. Why am I not dead yet? I was never supposed to live this long. What do I do now?

The dead do not answer her -- they never have -- and for once, neither do the gods. For the first time in her life, Luna is like everyone else, screaming her questions into the void and receiving nothing in return. But then a breeze touches her face, cold, sweet, and clean like the air in the high mountains, and Luna knows she is not alone.

She turns, but Gentiana is already gone.

~

Is there a message in this? Luna has spent her life parsing the messages of the gods, sometimes aloud to the Goddess, who hummed supportively when Luna was on the right track. So what is this supposed to mean, if anything? That her questions and prayers are heard, but ignored? Or is it just Gentiana, making a personal statement? Is such a thing even permitted?

What must they look like, to the gods, in their agony and their passion? Aimless children, or something more? Something growing?

Something in her lightens. Perhaps it simply means that she hasn’t been abandoned. That she isn’t here by mistake. That there is something she can still do.

Perhaps it means that there is someone she can still save.

~

Situated again in her room, Luna forces herself to eat the prepared meal, and completes her prescribed exercises. Ravus praises her awkwardly, but sincerely, and rests his hand on her head before departing on another mission into the darkness.

Luna finds vases for her flowers, arranges them. She ties a ribbon around the photos of Gentiana and tucks them away. She imagines pressing a kiss to the Goddess’ forehead as the Goddess once did for her.

She takes out the letter from Ignis, and begins to write her reply.

[laryna6]

...I just had the idea of a Solo Leveling/The Slayers crossover.

There’s canonically four worlds surviving in The Slayers, and Lost Universe is ~one of them, so ‘world’ can mean ‘universe’ and so the cannon fodder that show up in the epilogue of Solo Leveling don’t mess anything up in terms of ‘can this be one of the ‘worlds’ despite having multiple planets. The gate dimensions are built in the sea of chaos and that’s why anything that stays there long enough gets erased? So Sung Il-Hwan could be like, ‘was temporarily reabsorbed by the Lord of Nightmares but managed to become an individual again’ as per Lina setting Phibrizzo up to bitchslap his God thinking Lina was still in control of her body because that was the only scenerio that had a chance in Phibrizzo’s hell (only afterlife in that world btw) not ending in either 1. world endage or 2. Gourry’s soul in the possession of a Hellmaster with reason to be pissed at Lina personally for not summoning his God and ending the world.

Solo Leveling has this meta thing of ‘wow an author setting up a world like this for cool fight scenes would be a Complete Monster if people had to actually LIVE here’ while The Slayers was per Word of God basically made because Kanzaka read cosmic horror and demons in other works and was ‘meh not terrifying enough/doesn’t really sell the ‘we are the ants not squished yet and this is an achievement that could change at any time’ concept.

(BTW given that we meet a host other than Rezo in the novels, Lina is absolutely a host of one of the pieces of Shabranigdo and by the end the Mazoku lords know it and are like ‘yeeeeah... how about we don’t... let’s try to awaken that piece next time it incarnates in the body of a human NOT HER’ the Slayers novel series may have ended because Kanzaka’s Mazoku are actually smart enough to learn not to fuck with Lina Goddamn Inverse and are going to be on as non-evil as they’re capable of behavior for the reminder of her lifetime)

...The original protag of Slayers was going to be Lina’s big sister, a host of one of the pieces of the water dragon god or something.

...Swap Luna out for Jin-Woo and you get ‘you made HOW much money selling naked photos of me excellent that can cover all our bills except the need for mana crystals specifically for mom’s life support’ meanwhile Lina is going to Murdering Monsters College while in another world Jin-Ah is studying healing magic and punching alongside Princess Amelia on Luna’s say-so. Maybe some portal mishap happened, possibly while chibi Lina was running like heck following the OG photos incident... so much crack and murder possibility.

Kanzaka’s mazoku would eat the Solo Leveling monsters for lunch. They’re astral beings and doing damage to their physical projection does jack to stop them much less kill them, you need magic that does damage to things in the astral dimension so either you borrow the power of one mazoku to fight another or use specialized astral attack spells (eg. Ra Tilt).

Younger Sung Jin-Woo and chibi Lina as an adorable completely mercenary duo. Poor Woo Jin-Chul ending up getting assigned to ‘what have they done NOW’ ‘but they’re so weak and harmless the girl isn’t even hunter durable’ ‘harmless huh YOU’D THINK SO WOULDN’T YOU’ meanwhile GGH is going ‘my grandkids now’ he and Lina’d get along like a house on fire.

[noirbriar]

FFXV AU: The Lion, the Coeurl and the Cub (8)

A dragon and a kingdom in fire and darkness. Gladio and his father are too hard to write and fight scenes are a mess.

And yes, finally justice is served and peace awaits.

PART 1   PART 2   PART 3   PART 4  PART 5  PART6  PART 7

(possible crossover of FF lores ahead in this AU.OOC-ness and plotholes are all on me.Do I know what I’m doing?NOPE.)

-Gladiolus remembers their first meeting, the fidgety chocobo that greeted him cautiously from behind Noct after he found (caught) them at the arcade. Who gradually warmed up and joined him on working out when invited, and sharing a waffle stack afterwards at that one diner at the park’s corner on weekends. 

He was unsure about how the foreign looking kid was always hanging around Noctis so much. Though seeing Noct open up and having a friend outside him and Iggy, their originally solemn trio, was quite a relief really.The terrible first meeting aside. Gladio had not much expectations about Prompto, he was a normal schoolmate. At least, until the attempted kidnapping of Noctis. He should have suspected then. The fact that he was the son of The Immortal and the Hero of the Kingsglaive? Nope,didn’t see that coming at all. Although, it also kinda explains why the Marshal and Nyx had thrown him down during practice for 2 weeks straight after their first meeting.

-Yet now, his friend glows in the light Etro, ephemeral and extruding pure unadulterated power, this was a different Prompto. He summons a double Ultima effortlessly to clear the first wave of Red Giants for the armies to charge through Insomnia’s borders and began the battle against the daemon horde. Gladio has to be beside Noct as support and defence like his father for Regis. Cor is focusing on protecting Prompto while Nyx coordinates the joined army’s assault with Ravus and Arenea.

-There were just so many daemons. As if Insomnia is now an endless abyss of darkness.The boulevard he used to walk to the Citadel, the cafe he had lunches with Iggy, Prom and Noct’s arcade, Iris’ favourite shops…now rubble and decay.

-And also when did Ifrit have damn pet dog?! The thing is sleeping smack middle of the square like it owns the place and is no pushover. Even with Noct attacking all three heads, it still stays sharp and keeps dodging around the buildings.Cerberus then takes a leap and dives aiming at Prompto who is focusing on healing and support for some of the glaives, Cor grabs him and ducks out of the way as Nyx tries to warp over to assist after dealing with a psychomancer. In a blink of an eye, a shadow suddenly swoops in to carve a hole out of the demon dog from hell, slamming it into the department store and releasing a roar in show of smug victory…

- Okay.He sees it clearly now.Thats like a lion.Thats a DAMN BIG CROSS OF A ZU AND A CAT AND ITS A FLYING FELINE, oh shit,Prom and Iggy weren’t kidding then. 

But the creature doesn’t linger for long, leaving as soon as it appears, a pleased rumble echos from Griever after a small nod of acknowledgement from the Marshal. Griever pushing off with a flap of his wings, retreating into the air as it fades out into fragments of light. Gladio himself and some of the soldiers are shocked stiff at the sudden intervention and loss of their enemy but hey, he’ll take it.

-Meanwhile the Infernian is mad but Ardyn still had to be a snarky asshole.

“He~llo~ my old friend! Such a warm adoring welcome you have graced us with!” 

Annnd now the Astral is even more pissed while trying to make a giant bonfire out of Insomnia, his burning blade taking a swipe at everyone trying to warp nearer. The Niflheim division manages to get the Omega weapon to get some damage in luckily, allowing the Kings to do the rest.Three Armigers is nothing to scoff at, but if Luna suddenly marches forward, her dogs paving her way forward like the fierce queen she is? With Gentiana who turns back into Shiva, freezing the burning mess? By all means he isn’t complaining. 

Even as Titan, Ramuh and Leviathan manifest, pushing down the daemon Astral into submission. Prompto then finally calls for Gilgamesh and the undead souls to push back another wave of daemons to clear the area around the Citadel. Things look to be running smoothly until a giant sword slams down and pins Leviathan’s fins into the ground, screaming.

- “So you have come to meet your end.” The draconian’s voice echoes from the top of the citadel, soaring overhead. Well, screw you too Bahamut. 

-The 3 generation of Kings come forward and faces off the Draconian,summoning their royal arms as the kings of yore materialises. Ardyn casually takes his spot on the mystic’s shoulder, Regis stands with the Wise and Noctis graciously allowed to perch beside the rogue queen. 

Ifrit takes this time to trash and free himself, releasing a burst of hellfire in mad defiance, which the Draconian simply waves away the flames and grabs the insane astral in a chokehold. 

“Futile are your efforts.Now, fulfil your purpose forced upon you by mankind, the same beings you have adored once just as she did.The same creatures you have granted your fire and love.They are your downfall.But this is your blessed redemption, grant me your powers and the darkness, my brother.I will recreate the world in which you have dreamt.” 

The starscourge and fire then flows into Bahamut who revels in the energy, its almost an act of cannibalism, Gladio thinks. This was the god that they had worshipped. A truly heartless, wretched being.

The other Astrals attacks but are blown back by his bladed wings, smaller Bahamuts shaped by light emerges from him, before diving down to attack the army.Even the Omega Weapon ended up in smithereens in the shockwave of energy.

“To lie and to betray your kin, I am sensing a pattern here, Bahamut~!” Ardyn comments coolly. The Mystic remains silent. The founder Kings began their attack just as Leviathan recovers decides to have her revenge, hurling herself towards Bahamut who casually throws down the now almost fading Ifrit at her.She screeches in the language of gods back at him. (“Ohhh, my, I never knew that was a possible curse!”Ardyn.Not now.)

-Noctis and the Rogue cuts down more daemons, letting Regis join Ardyn in the assault, when Prompto asks for cover as he skids over in effort to make it closer to the Ifrit. Cor lets Noctis take over and goes to help Nyx and Ignis against a rampaging Behemoth King. He warps over and lets Prompto do his thing as he arrives by the fallen Infernian’s side.His eyes bright as he places a hand by his face, the shadowy vines of death dances wildly and lets the fragile astral breathe again. Shiva approaches, hovering by her old love quietly. 

Noctis then rejoins his father and Ardyn in their attack on the accursed Astral. Bahamut deflects while readying his tetraflare, the ability finally reaching its peak and achieving what he set out to do 2000 years ago.

-“All-mother...?”

”Shh.My dear flame who once shared my love with mankind…There will be time for amends.”

A humbled Ifrit gets up and kneels before Etro, who gently pats his horn. Garuda appears, floating nearby, ever his loyal messenger in the days of old.The other Astrals wanders closer alongside their messengers (the dogs pattering around Shiva, and to Noct’s amazement, Carbuncle appears by his feet before rubbing itself against him, and bouncing off to join the other gods.) 

All of them had gathered around the Goddess’ side.The Eyes of Etro then turn to address the wayward dragon. 

“Etro. Your interventions have been pitiful.”

”And yet I am here now, Bahamut. I ask you only once. Will you cease and return to your calling as my Eidolon?”

”My calling is to be the almighty.”

”Then I pity you.” Etro closes her eyes as she relays her command in the language of the Gods. 

“Bring him into the beyond and I will bring Salvation upon Eos. Let these souls balance the scales of Life once again! With this, penance has been made, wrongs have been made right. Now, purge the land of darkness and may it flourish for the Living!”

-Bahamut roars and proceeds to cast the boosted tetraflare but the astrals attack deflects and intercept the blow, thus causing the magic to backfire into a mighty blast. The divine beings scream as the light expands out across the ruined Insomnia, before constricting into a contained orb of pure light in the darkness. Phantoms of the Astrals and the messengers remain, containing the impact as the gigantic orb pulses in rhythmic waves, piercing through the endless miasma of darkness and burning daemons into ash.

-The Kings of Yore fades out as the daemons vanish and burn in the blast, the souls of the dead flicking and flittering towards the light, they have completed their duty to Etro. 

The army of Eos stops in bewilderment. The air is no longer heavy but darkness still remains. 

-Ardyn wanders up to Etro.

” He’s in there isn’t he? His spirit.”

”Its his domain. A place he selfishly carved and reside away from his other kin.The astral plane.A space between the living and the beyond where time does not exists.Where the essence of Gods can be found. 

“Then it is time to finish this curse, wouldn’t you agree? Come along, my dearest nephews!” 

Regis and Noctis simply return a deadpan stare.

”Rude! Somnus will hear of this! His descendants, simply terrible!” 

And with that Ardyn saunters his way into the light, as the other 2 Lucis Caelums follow in with their retainers. Luna nods to Ravus who lets her go as she marches forward, determined to see the end with her own eyes. They leave Crowe, Pelna, Libertus, Arenea to help look after the remaining troops and Iris, Dustin, Monica to help the wounded.

-Cor and Nyx noticed that Prompto has not moved from his spot, his eyes no longer bright with Etro’s power, but simply gazing at the gateway of light silently.The exhaustion clear, but something else was beneath the facade as well.Their son reaches to hold onto his fathers’ hands. Right as they were about to address anything else, Prompto looks up brightly and tugs them along.The others are awaiting.

-There in the vast crystalline space, they face off the weakened Bahamut’s spirit and revenge never felt better. 

The Kings of Yore manifests and one by one, they run their weapons through the broken Astral. Until only 3 remain. 

A strike, from a father forced to let his son die. 

A slash, from the boy who has yet to live. 

A stab, from a man wronged and forsaken by all.

The Draconian groans in resignation, his body dispersing into fragments of light.The Lucis Caelums and Nox Flurets were finally free as they watch the glittering pieces become lost.

Without Bahamut, the Astral Plane darkens and dims like a dying star, leaving the light from 2 points. The living and the undying realms. The team tiredly began to make their way to the exit back home in relief. The taste of freedom feels so delightful-

Until Prompto grasps Noctis’ wrist and the prince looks back at his friend in confusion.

Everyone turns and notices the boys falling behind them.

”Prom?” Prompto doesn’t reply, his head hanging low.

Something feels…off.

-“I..I don’t know how you did it Noct. Being in that crystal for 10 years.I don’t think I can myself haha…but,it shouldn’t be too bad…right?”

”Prompto, what are you-“

”I saw so many things you know? So much deaths and loss. His majesty, Lord Amicitia, my baba, Luna, Iggy, Ravus, Ardyn…you. I saw all the doors. I saw all the ends.”

“I wonder, if you know of the truth, would you all hate me for ignoring the sacrifices you, Luna, Iggy, and everyone have made for my selfish wish?”

“Wha-No way, Prompto I-“

“I just-I wished-no.I’m just happy I got to see you guys again. I’m glad no matter what, in all the universes, we still met.“ 

Prompto quietly summons his gun and pushes it into Noctis’ hand before backing away slowly. More floating souls of the dead gather around them. The unearthly vine like tendrils of darkness from the Beyond began to curl around Prompto in an eerie embrace.The tattoo on his wrist now growing, morphing, as he looks back at his love ones, the pain evident in his posture.When he finally looks up shakily, Gladio feels a chill run down his spine as he sees crystals bursts from various parts of his friend’s skin.

The Eyes of Etro stares back at them from the darkness. A tear. A smile.

“I’m sorry. Thank you.”

A snap resounds in the back of Gladio’s mind, and the line of magic between Noctis and Prompto shatters. 

“PROMPTO!” -----

I lied. Its not really final fantasy without a final final boss isn’t it? FINAL PART 

[followthestars]

I’m realizing the first city you go to on the quest for the memorial... Is the perfect time for Sol and Ignis to reunite with Prompto, Luna, and Gladio. All the hugs for them. And Sol, who remembers Gladio some, poking fun at him being so tiny in this life.

Gladio easily lifts Sol over his head and carries him around. No one bats an eye that’s witnessing the scene. Ignis also taking time to let them know that they should be able to access the armiger again.

Gladio’s smile when summoning his old great sword does not inspire happy feelings for anyone watching. Luna does end up somehow getting The Admiral to give the three a pass to continue travelling with Sol and Ignis.

They aren’t letting their king leave them behind and Luna kind of adores the fact that Noctis was reincarnated as a literal catboy. She also has a good laugh over it when alone. Sol doesn’t get the amusement as he’s not remembering everything. But he’s happy to have his shield and quicksilver back. Plus he gets this fighty conjurer that is really terrifying with a great axe to travel with too! If any of that masked mage’s buddies show up, she might be able to terrify them into fleeing on her own.

Sol 100% also joins the Arcanist’s guild. He doesn’t summon a normal Carbuncle. This one has an odd device in it’s mouth and looks different. Ignis recognizes Noctis’ cell phone in an instant.

The first thing that pops up on the phone, and scares Sol half to death when it goes off, is a ‘NOCT!’ followed by

The guild is confused by this strange Carbuncle, but... Sol likes it, it is very familiar too. Like how Ignis, Prompto, Gladio, and Luna are familiar.

The guild does not realize that Sol summoned a literal lesser astral instead of the normal carbuncle the guild summons. Sol does not realize he is very op in this world.

[amarabliss]

Oaths and Hearts - 20 (Ignis Scientia/Reader)

You fell through a rift into the fade fighting the demons you swore to protect your world from. When you popped out you were no longer in the lands of Ferelden instead trapped in Insomnia. The gracious king allowed you to say recognizing power when he saw it. One thing led to another and now you were part of the procession of the prince to his wedding years later. Before the final battle, after years of fighting, losses, and love…your friend…your king…Noctis has asked you to change it all…

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11  Part 12  Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16  Part 17  Part 18  Part 19

You strode with purpose into the barracks. Many soldiers moved aside eyes widening as if they knew what was about to happen. You opened the door to the office, “Cor!”

The gentleman sat at his desk looking up slowly before he sighed, “I know what you’re going to say…”

“How could you!?” You growled at him slamming your hand down on his desk, “Dammit! We talked about this!”

“Yes, we did, and I told you…” He stared into your eyes, “should the reigning Lucian king be unable to produce an heir…there are two options…one he calls upon the family Scientia…or another of Lucian blood ascends to the throne. Ignis is…both…”

“You didn’t give him time to process! You didn’t even give him a choice…” You stood up crossing your arms, “Did you even think how this would affect him?”

Cor stared at you as silence fell over you both before he finally looked away, “Ignis is smart calculating young man, I didn’t think…”

“Yes, exactly…you didn’t think and now my husband is reeling at home trying to figure out every detail of his life and how it was all a lie.” You glared at him long and hard before letting your arm drop, “You don’t know Ignis like I do.”

“I have known Ignis since he was a boy.” Cor looked at you his voice raising, “I conducted his training into the Crownsguard personally.”

“Then you should remember that he strives only for excellence!” You raised your voice over his getting him to fall silent, “That any deviation in a plan sends him spiraling!”

Cor stood up leaning toward you, “He can handle it.”

“Yes, he can! But you should have used more tact!” You pointed in his face.

“Tact…is that what this is about?” He moved around the desk standing in front of you throwing his arms out, “You think you could have done any better.”

“Yes!” You felt your hands ball up into fists.

“Enough!” You both took a step back looking to the door seeing Gladio standing there staring at the both of them, “Shiva…just calm the fuck down…”

You felt your face getting hot as you crossed your arms, “I'm not wrong…he’s furious at everyone except Ulric.”

“There is no right or wrong… the whole situation is messed up.” Gladio frowned shaking his head, “But there are facts…Ignis is the oldest son of Regis, and Luna is barren.”

You frowned looking down. You felt ashamed that you had forgotten that. What pain Noct and Luna must be going through with this revelation…you’d never wish it upon anyone.

Gladio went on slowly as he leaned against the door frame, “More now than ever we need to be united. Noct is already laying out a plan. His desire is to see Insomnia flourishing…and we know that is Ignis' wish too. Once he is ready and only when he is…he’ll need to talk to Noct and together they can make whatever decision is best for our country.”

Cor let out a long sigh before nodding, “You are the king’s shield…you understand both of them…I will differ to your judgement.”

“Y/N isn’t wrong though…” Gladio pushed off the door, “This could have been handled in a much more delicate way. This can’t happen again…that’s why I came by. Noctis wants to see you to discuss changes…”

Cor nodded reaching back over the desk grabbing a file and notebook, “I suspected he would…”

Gladio stepped aside letting Cor leave. He glanced at you before giving you a small grin, “Walk with me?”

You sighed as you felt a smile creeping to you lips before looping your arm with his, “How could I refuse?”

“I know it’s hard to resist this fine specimen of a face…” You laughed as he led you out of the training hall, taking you down one of the many halls of the citadel, “How’s Ulric’s cough? Did you try the honey?”

“I was about to but Ignis read somewhere that it wasn’t a good idea. Something about spores…I can’t remember what he said might happen…” You smirked a little, “You’ll laugh at what I did do though…”

“What?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Bourbon on the finger…” You smiled as Gladio erupted with laughter, “You should have seen Ignis’ face when I told him…”

“Oh, bet he blew a gasket or two.” He chuckled wiping a tear away, “I assume it was along the lines of that’s not safe…He’s a child and we shouldn’t be allowing this so early on!”

“I don’t know why he was so angry…I’m perfectly fine and my father told me my mother nursed me with whiskey.” You shrugged a little, “You all and your crazy 'modern' medicine.”

“Not all of us grew up with magic and potions that relieve ailments…and only those with access to the king’s power can use the potions we have here.” Gladio rattled off, “And I like penicillin…”

“I have read it’s uses.” You glanced at him, “But this isn’t the conversation you want to have, is it?”

“No…” He frowned a little shaking his head, “I need you to talk to Ignis…try to get him to come around faster…”

“Come around?” You stopped looking up to Gladio, “What if he doesn’t want to come around…none of you have thought of that, have you?”

“Y/N…” Gladio’s shoulders slumped when you took your arm back, “I don’t know…if he has a choice…”

Your eyes widened as you took a deep breath in trying to remain calm, “Gladio…I know a thing or two about being forced into a position you never wanted. I have no doubt that Ignis would do it, and do it well, but…doing it because you want to and forced to are two very different mentalities…”

Ignis bounced back and forth softly humming as he walked toward Ulric’s room. His son was the only person in this whole world who only expected him to be one thing. His father. It gave Ignis great comfort dedicating himself to the task.

“There we go…” He lowered his son down into the crib. What a wonder he was…perfect in every way.

Ignis smiled leaning against the crib lowering his hand down letting Ulric take his finger in his small hand as he drifted asleep. Astrals, he could just stare at him for hours and marvel how he was a part of this creation.

He watched Ulric’s chest rise up and down for what seems like eternity until he began to feel a crick in his neck. He placed his hand on his son’s chest as he whispered, “I love you little one…”

He rubbed his neck as he walked out down the hall. He stopped as he entered the living room looking around at all the toys, blankets, and other things. This would have driven him crazy a year ago, now it was a piece of heaven.

He leaned over picking things up tossing them into the fabric toy bin Monica had made for them. He set it near the play pin when his ears picked something up. Someone was outside in the apartment’s hallway causing a ruckus. The noise they made sounded as if they were in pain.

As he moved to the door, he stopped looking down the hallway toward Ulric’s door. His stomach rolled at the very thought of anything happening to his son. That’s when he heard the voice more clearly and it made his heart ache with unbearable agony…

“D…Dad…” The voice elongated each syllable.  

He walked to the door stopping at his hand hovered over the handle. He heard the call again…this time he summoned forth one his daggers as he opened the door slowly. He peaked out seeing no one the way. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door quickly stepping out dagger up.

What he found in the hallway was more startling then he anticipated. A young man lay on the ground several feet from his door. He was wearing a Glaive uniform and bleeding profusely, “Dear gods above…”

He walked over to him quickly moving his hand way from the wound on his side. The man groaned when Ignis put pressure on the wound, “D…Dad…”

“I’ll find your father…we just need to get you stabilized-” Ignis stopped when he looked up to his face. Viridian eyes met viridian eyes as a large lump formed in Ignis’ throat, “…no…”

“Dad…I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…” Ulric gritted his teeth shutting his eyes, “I…I had too…”

“Just…” Ignis shook his head as the reality began sinking in fast. This young man…was his son. There was no reason why he should know this fact, but he did, “Can you stand?”

Ulric nodded and Ignis slipped his arm around his back to help. As he started to stand, he let out a cry collapsing back to the ground, “Ah! No…no I can’t…I can’t…dad…”

Ignis put pressure back on his side avoiding eye contact with him, afraid if he would stare into them and lose his level head, “I need to get help…”

“Dad…” His voice was soft almost begging, “I need…you to listen to me…”

“You need to put pressure…”

“Dad!” Ignis looked at him seeing his face was mixed with sweat, blood, and tears. Ulric let his head fall back against the wall with a soft thud, “It’s too late…I didn’t…I didn’t come here to be saved.”

“Stop…” Ignis shook his head before he began to help him again, but Ulric’s hands fell onto his making him stop.

His son who took his hands shaking his head, “Dad…you have to listen. I couldn’t stop him…I tried…so…hard…but he was too strong…”

Realizing that there was nothing he could, but keep Ulric comfortable, Ignis reached up taking his son’s face in his hands pressing his forehead against his, “Tell me what to do…tell me how to help you…”

He wiped his son’s tears away, “You need to live…”

Ignis felt his chest tighten from his words. Like his mother he traversed time itself for his family. You came back to save Noct and in doing so…you prevented a grievous injury from happening to himself. You altered everything that was supposed to happen…changing the course of destiny…leading it to this moment.

“Don’t go back…whatever you do…” Ulric grabbed onto his father’s arms looking into his eyes with so much sorrow. His grip tightened as he shook with pain, “When he comes…don’t…”

“Who…Who is coming?” Ignis wiped the sweat from his face, “Ulric…help me fix this. Who is coming? When…”

“Adagium…” He grimaced pushing his head back, “He came…like a raging force...He came for mom, but you…you wouldn’t let him come near.”

Ignis watched as Ulric’s eyes shut, “I still hear you clearly telling us to run…You handed Ellie to Uncle Gladio, ordering him to go with us, saying you were right behind…but you weren’t…”

Ignis looked around shouting for someone to help him as Ulric coughed up blood, “Hold on…just hold on Ulric…”

“I read everything you wrote, and it wasn’t enough…” Ulric reached up for Ignis’ face. It was then he saw the Ring of Luci on his son’s finger, “I couldn’t save you…”

“It is not the son who should save his father.” Ignis put a hand over his squeezing, “A father will protect his family at all cost…you haven’t failed anyone…Ulric…I am so proud of you. I fear you did not hear that enough to go through such drastic measures…”

Giant tears fell down his face as he hung his head. It was at that moment he saw you in their son. Like you he carried the weight of the world until it would break you. Putting his hand on top of Ulric’s head he kissed him feeling himself breaking down, “I love you little one…”

He received no response as Ulric slumped forward into his chest. Ignis froze only for a moment feeling a tear trickle down his face before he held him close. A sob wracked his body as he stayed there in the hall cradling his son lifeless body.

Sometime later, he heard small cry in the distance. His head snapped toward the apartment. He looked down gently lowering Ulric to the floor. His heart was torn from his chest as he had to physically push himself away. He staggered back inside hearing his son’s cries for comfort.

Catching himself in the hall mirror, he stopped, blood was all over his clothing, his hands, his face…He struggled with the buttons as he stepped into the bathroom across from Ulric’s room. He dropped the shirt to the floor before washing his hands, “I…I’m coming…”

Once satisfied he quickly rushed to the crib scooping up his son. Fresh tears pooled down both their faces as he began to speak, “I’m right here little one…I’m right here…shh…. we’re okay…your daddy’s right here…”

Once he calmed Ulric down he put his back in the crib. He stepped out into the hallway pulling his phone from his pocket calling the one person that came to mind to help him, “I need you to come to the apartment now…”

Ten minutes later he was sitting in the outside hall next to his son. He had covered him in a sheet just in case anyone came out. It was fortunate that the neighbors were gone majority of the day. He looked toward the elevator when it pinged and out stepped Tor.

The shocked look on his face was to be expected, but his question confirmed what you had told him, “Where’s Ulric?”

Ignis smiled a sad smile, “He’s safe…he’s sleeping inside, and… he’s here…”

He reached forward pulling back the sheet to show the young man’s face. He felt himself choke up immediately at the sight of his pale skin. He could see Tor in his peripheral stepping toward him and kneeling down, “How?”

“That is…a question for another time…” Ignis cleared his throat, “I need…I need him to be taken care of before Y/N…she can’t see this.”

He looked at Tor when he put a hand on his shoulder. The Glaive nodded, “You know I will do whatever it takes to keep Ulric safe…If there is a way to stop this. I will do it…”

Ignis stared at him for a long time before he nodded, “You have my thanks…”

Tor nodded before pulling out his phone bringing it to his ear, “Go inside, stay with Ulric…I will handle this from here.”

Ignis took a deep breath before he nodded. He leaned forward kissing Ulric’s forehead before he stood up, “Please…if it’s possible…do it respectfully…”

“Yeah, I’m here…hold on…” Tor pulled the phone away looking at Ignis, “You have my word, sir.”

Ignis nodded walking inside shutting the door behind him. He took in a deep breath leaning against the door putting a hand to his face as it contorted. He slid down to the floor as his tears began to fall.

He took the moment. He held onto it letting everything out until he felt he could control himself. Then…he wiped away his tears, standing up and reaching inside his pants pocket. He pulled out the Ring of Luci letting it rest in his palm.

“Alright…you’ve made your point…” He spoke to the air, “I accept my fate…just help me save me family…”

The ring slide over his middle finger fitting like a glove. His eyes widened as warmth spread up his arm. The immense power he felt coursing through his veins. As it began to become overwhelming he shut his eyes trying to focus.

“Hello Ignis…” His eyes opened at the sound of the deep voice. He was someplace different, a place between worlds. He turned slowly seeing the man connected to the voice.

Regis looked at him proudly, “I’m sure you have questions…”

[lunaelotus]

Name: Dan Heng Race: Vidyadrara Alignment: Neutral with good tendencies Place of Birth: Xianzhou Luofu Place of Residence: The Astral Express Occupation: Guard and Archivist, High Elder of a Past Age, Imbibitor Lunae Martial Status: Single ( but is very verse dependent ) Wealth Status: well to do ( but might vary with his verses ) Faction: Astral Express, The Hunt

Ht: 6'2 Wt:210 Hair Color: Blue Black worn long in his natural for, streaked with red and teal. Short and fluffy in his human guise. Eye Color: Teal, though sometimes blue and sometimes green Skin Tone: Light Distinguishing Features: Many find him attractive, He always wears a jade dragon clip along his ear. When he transforms he grows a pair of blue horns at his crown, and a spirit tail sometimes accompanies this transformation. Red markings under his eyes.His ears become pointy.

Tattoos: A coiling dragon along his right bicep. Piercings: His Ears Face Claim: Zheng Fan Xing

Virtue: Temperance Vice: Wrath Likes: Tea, Sake and Sesame Chicken Dislikes: People who hurt his friends, Blade, Light spots after one of March's photos, being bound in any way. anything deemed too sweet. Hatred: His missing memory, when he's told he can't be himself.

Disposition: Cool, but fair a man given to pondering life the universe and everything. It would be great if he could remember half of it. He is often found in the archive working when he is not on guard duty. He always has a book with him and usually a cup of tea. Dan Heng tries to be the serious one of his friends to keep them out of trouble and to protect them from usually themselves and their great ideas. He is close to Bailu and views her as both a sister and a daughter in many ways. He is fatherly with her. ( obviously if you write Bailu and do not wish this I will never impose upon someone ).

The fact he knows he is running from something makes matters worse, since it has to do with Blade did he do something to the man in the past, were they close all things that he can't be sure of because when one of his kind are reborn they are reborn without memories, he often has nightmares about what he did. Though they are jumbled and not something he can ever really focus on for very long. They leave him feeling off.

Abilities Walking Encyclopedia - As March has put it, Dan Heng has learned a bunch of skills he knows a little bit about a a lot of topics, but it might be something important to the situation or irrelevant such as manners in a house, or what they view as a good meal. He is the Astral Expresses Archiver.

Spear Mastery- More than just good with a spear Dan Heng is amazing with his, he knows precisely how to hit, where to hit and how hard to damage a person. Cloudbreaker is a powerful weapon in his hands, though he can use any spear it is his Cloudbreaker he prefers. He is also noteworthy of his speed when wielding this spear.

Cooking- He is no expert but he knows how to cook without burning rice, an ancient thing since the food replicator is just fine on its own. He prefers to be safe than sorry as there are places where there is no replicators, they had visited.

Recording History-As it unfolds.

Water & Wind Powers: He can part waters, and float/fly in the air thanks to these powers of his former incarnation Dan Feng. Though since he has taken on this gift, he has also taken on the powers and understanding.

Dragon Orb( Lunae pearl ) - His orb can be used in combat, he can summon Cloudbreaker with it to strike at a distants. It is believed this is Dan Feng's Dragon Pearl.

Martial Arts- he is a guard on the Astral Express he has hand to hand training that makes him faster, know where to hit and how hard. He often uses his draconic nature in combo with his martial abilities to fight devastatingly effectively.

History (Spoilers beware )

[autumnstwilight]

Dawn of the Future summary- Lunafreya (Part 2 of 2)

Here’s the remainder of Luna’s chapter of the book

-Sol feels guilty for snapping at Luna, but still can’t understand her belief in the gods and her “calling”. She reflects on the people she saw as a child in Niflheim, who blindly believed in the Empire and led it to its doom. She respects Aranea, who follows only herself, and helps people “because I wanted to help”. Though Biggs claimed Aranea was fine, Sol caught a note of worry in his voice. -Sol realizes that there is a daemon in their way, and shoots it to immobilize it, while Luna delivers the final blow with her power. Sol thinks she’s gotten stronger, but also realizes the black markings on her body are spreading, and she’s in pain. Sol distrusts the gods who gave her that power. -Due to too many fights with daemons, they don’t make it to the outpost and end up camping between rocks with torches and fire to keep the daemons away for the night. Luna is uncomfortable with the brightness, but continues writing letters for Noctis about all the new things she is experiencing, such as Sol teaching her card games. -The next morning, Sol gets a phone call from Gladio. They ponder over whether or not she’s the real Oracle and the nature of her powers. Gladio says Noctis would know, but Sol wonders, since he barely saw her in Altissia and before that only as a child. Sol almost says that Luna saved her, but hesitates and says “her power is useful” instead. Gladio says he’ll tell Sania, because Luna would “be a good research subject”, making Sol uncomfortable. -They arrive at Nome, a former train station, the next day. Luna has been here before, but the ruins look completely different. The outpost is abandoned and appears to have been attacked. Sol tries to call the Hunters to ask where they should go next, but they are interrupted by another daemon attack. During the fight, Luna flips out and destroys and absorbs all the daemons before collapsing. -Luna realizes that every daemon she absorbs remains in her body, and it’s her Oracle healing powers that allow her to withstand it. That is why the daemon-absorbing power couldn’t be given to anyone else. Sol carries her inside and makes her a cup of tea. Sol asks Luna if she thinks she will turn into a daemon and if killing her now would be “for the sake of the world”. Luna says she may have to become a monster to fight monsters. Even so, it scares her. -Sol asks Luna what she wants to do. Luna says she wants to fulfill her role as Oracle, but Sol insists on knowing what the girl named Luna, wants. Luna admits she wants to live happily with Noctis. Sol says, since the gods brought her back to life, she should do that, but Luna worries that if she doesn’t fulfill her calling, the gods will take her life away again. She also feels that with her new power, she is no longer human. -Sol contacts Biggs, and learns that Aranea and her party are exploring Solheim ruins where Niflheim Magitek was stored. However, they are surrounded by daemons and unable to escape. Sol wants to go save her, but Aranea has ordered that the ruins be sealed up without any rescue attempts. Sapphire Weapon (a similar unit to Diamond Weapon) is down there. -Luna wants to stage a rescue attempt with Sol, to help “because she wants to help”. Sol admits that she’s Solara Aldercapt Antiquum from the Niflheim imperial family, and thus related to the people who murdered Luna’s mother. Luna doesn’t care. -Luna realises the ruins in question are a temple in which she once trained, and thus she knows a hidden way in. Inside, she sees a statue of Aera Mirus Fleuret, and is given visions from Aera’s memories of Ardyn as a healer. Luna realizes her new power is the same as Ardyn’s, and that in addition to fighting daemons, it can be used to “heal” Starscourge by sucking it out of people, as well as reverting recently-turned daemons back into their original form. Aera explains Ardyn’s fall and rejection of his fate before asking Luna to save him. -Within the ruins they find a giant sword and spear that Luna thinks belongs to Odin, one of the 24 Messengers, used in the Great Astral War. The wrathful Infernian, Ifrit, tried to destroy mankind, and the struggle between humans and gods turned into a war of god against god. This displeased Bahamut, who was above the other gods, and he attempted to destroy all the other gods and Eos with them. Shiva, Titan, Leviathan and Ramuh defended Eos from Bahamut’s attacks, but were exhausted by the conflict and fell into sleep. -Sol notes that this is different from the myths that she heard, but Luna was taught by Gentiana herself. -They run into Biggs and Wedge, who scold Sol for coming after being told not to. Luna insists it’s necessary for them to enter as part of her duty as Oracle (even though that’s a lie). Ahead they find daemons, followed by a large cave containing Sapphire Weapon. They defeat the Weapon, but Luna absorbs a large amount of daemonic energy doing so. -They realize that, even though Aranea should be nearby, she didn’t come to assist her daughter. They then run into a silver-haired daemon carrying a spear. Aranea had given the order for the ruins to be sealed because she had already begun turning. -Luna embraces daemon Aranea and turns her back into a human. Unfortunately, this proves to be the tipping point in turning Luna herself into a daemon. When Aranea regains her senses, she immediately attacks Luna to protect Sol from the “daemon”. -Luna is bound and taken to Lestallum, where the Hunters and Kingsglaive try to decide what to do with her. They are skeptical that the Oracle has returned to life. Cor thinks they should get rid of her, and asks Ignis to confirm that he saw the Oracle dead. Ignis says that she definitely was, but he also saw her body vanish into thin air. Gladio: The hell does that mean? Ignis: It means what I said. -Gentiana appears to Luna in a dream and tells her that she must not trust Bahamut, as his aim is to use her to gather the darkness, including the darkness in Ardyn. His aim is to use the darkness along with his own power to perform the “final summoning”, Teraflare. (究極召喚（テラフレア）- same kanji as the “final summoning” in FFX) -Luna questions why he’d do such a thing, and Gentiana explains that Bahamut is the highest god, in the heavens, and separated from the planet. To him, humans are like flowers, one cannot be distinguished from the next, and flowers damaged by sickness or pests must be removed. Having failed to destroy Eos with Teraflare during the Great Astral War, he wants to make sure that it will succeed this time. -She also explains that Bahamut exists both in this realm and the Beyond, and unless he is destroyed in both, he will resurrect. However, it is not necessary to kill him in order to stop Teraflare. At this point, Gentiana is noticed by Bahamut and prevented from speaking further. -Luna awakens bound in a hotel in Lestallum, furious at how Bahamut used Ardyn and plans to use her. Aranea helps Sol to break her out of the hotel room, and the two take the motorbike and head for Insomnia. Luna writes one more message in the notebook and tells Umbra to take it to Noctis when the time comes. -Luna enters the throne room, and Ardyn greets her with, “I’m afraid you’re out of luck. The person you want to see isn’t here.” However, Luna says that she wants to talk to Ardyn himself. Ardyn: “Talk? What could a puppet of the Gods have to say to me? And here I was thinking you had come to kill me.” Luna reflects that, in the past, they were both puppets of the Gods, before asking him to cooperate with her.

[blooming-blooming]

Can you explain more about the Eliphas’ rhetoric towards Yuma and the Hellshark was Yoshida hating women? And him hating women in general? Sorry. I'm confused. Sorry if you're mad.

I’m not mad at all, don’t worry! I know Yoshida is... a touchy subject among female YGO fans, to say the least, but I really don’t mind expanding on my thoughts. I was originally going to just put the Eliphas part under a cut for length but... I have a lot of thoughts on this, so I’m going to put most of it under a cut for the sake of peoples’ feeds. As always, people can rb if they want, idc.

This ask is about this vent post, which in turn is me piggybacking off this post I reblogged. The post I reblogged in particular being a very common plight among wlw shounen fans, and is why I overwhelmingly prefer shoujo to the point that YGO is quite literally the only shounen series I like besides one other shounen manga with a near all female cast.

Perhaps (though many will disagree with me) saying Yoshida hates women was a bit harsh. However, he has explicitly said in a blurb at the back of a volume of the Zexal manga that he very rarely, if at all, writes women when left to his own devices - to the point that the artist literally had to convince him to make the manga-only character Luna female because there were no female characters contributing to the story.

So, at the very least, Yoshida is very much not fond of writing women into his stories, whether intentional or not on his part (because what he said very much reads to me like he doesn’t intend to not write women, however: unintentional misogyny is still misogyny, and I think reflects subconscious views he has on women as a result).

As for how this plays into IV and Shark’s relationship and my feelings towards it: I’m gonna be blunt, HellShark is one of my absolute favorite ships in the franchise despite the lack of content I make for it. IV V Nasch in particular is a duel that means a lot to me wrt my own trauma and older unhealthy coping mechanisms as reflected in IV’s character. 

However.

It’s also very, very hard to ignore that a lot of their canonical, on screen interactions are directly at the expense of Rio. The entire foundation for IV and Ryoga’s relationship is that IV set Rio on fire, that Ryoga wants revenge for Rio, and, in II that IV wants to make things up to Ryoga for what he did to Rio.

Yet, Rio Kamishiro herself is never present for any of this. We are never  oncegiven an opinion from Rio about what IV did to her. At best, we have it mentioned in a 3Ds game that isn’t canon that she wants to talk things out with IV, but nothing in the anime itself. This is a very blatant red flag. Rio spends 80 episodes in a coma for this, wakes up from said coma, then is put into another coma before she can sort things out. In general, Rio has very little, if any agency of her own from the time her and Shark start realizing they’re Barians until the Barians start attacking Heartland.

This also plays into my comment about Megumi Han, Rio’s voice actress. The friend of mine who got me to watch Zexal watched it herself as it aired, and mentioned that Han accidentally slipped up/leaked Rio being Merag right before the Barian backstory arc. Because of her then being put into a coma right when things started to involve the Kamishiros and her being shown with IV in the ED, this lead to a rumor coming out that her and IV were supposed to talk things out in canon, but they wrote Rio’s character out as punishment. However, it’s just that: a rumor, and nothing more, so take it with a grain of salt.

As for Eliphas:

Juuuuust so I’m not talking completely out of my ass (as I often do), I’ll be citing this article by Masami Tamagawa, particularly the subsection of it linked therein. 

The rundown is: family structures are a very key cornerstone in Japanese society, with a very distinctive focus on relation to the father. Keeping this structure in tact is very key for career movement; particularly for men, who are traditionally viewed as the breadwinners while the wives stay home. Risking straying from this structure not only puts your family at risk, but yourself as well - leading to many LGBT JP people to stay closeted.

With this in mind, Eliphas is the known creator of Astral, and also explicitly created Barian when he banished all Astral beings who had chaos in them so that Astral World could continue to prosper. This already lays the foundation for an allegory to conservatism down, but in particular the way he, Astral’s patriarch, talks about Yuma’s chaotic (gay) relationship with Astral and how Yuma defends himself goes much further in this.

The foundation for Eliphas’ stance and rhetoric on keeping Astral away from Yuma isn’t the “impurity” of their love, though it is a major component, but rather: their love, and Yuma encouraging Astral to think for himself and find his own purpose detracts him for furthering the prosperity of Astral World. Because of Astral’s relationship, he is denying Eliphas, his family, the opportunities to further society. Afaik, this is a very major point for JP conservatism as a whole - however, my source mostly focuses on the family aspect, so I will refrain from going further on that.

Yuma’s defense to this basically boils down to “we’ve argued, but all I have ever truly done to Astral is love him.”

The article linked also goes into what an extreme generation gap Japan now has with regards to viewing LGBT cultures, and cites the 90s gay boom to exposure in the identities as a reason. Yuma’s final line in this defense reads very strongly as a generational argument/parallel to me:

Eliphas’ rhetoric is furthered when Yuma summons Hope, a direct symbol of Yuma and Astral’s relationship:

He refers to it as an “abnormality born from irregularity”, directly accusing Hope of only existing at all for deviating from the social norms, which is bad. Yuma again refutes that there is nothing wrong with Hope, just as there is nothing wrong with him and Astral being together.

This is all just from the first episode of this duel. I’m sure I could go on, but I’ll be blunt: while I like the themes and allegory of Yuma V Eliphas, I hate the pacing and don’t even want to skim through more. 

However, I do feel based on everything above, combined with the two being canon in the manga also written by Yoshida (with an argument I can very easily make that they’re canon in the finale of the anime as well - but that’s for another post), and again, Alit canonically being in love with Yuma being used as a point of sympathy for him and the Barians’ situation, that Yuma and Astral are a very deliberate and very intentional LGBT narrative. 

As someone whos gay relationship was recently sabotaged by her GF’s parents, all of Yuma’s points hit EXTREMELY close to home for me in particular - and, I’ll be frank: I’m friends with a lot of Zexal fans in gay relationships, and literally all of them have picked up on having the exact same sentiments as Yuma, be it to someone close or society at large - at some point in their lives.