Magical Ascencion Chapter 15 Alt POV's (Patreon)

"He is... Perfect." Hoshino Ai said softly as her star-like eyes gazed with seemingly obsessive intensiveness at Jake Barris as he sat back down after that delightful proof of his magic that was clearly a projection of the planet of Venus. "He fits me in every which way."

"Do I need to arrange the match, my dear Hehe?" Her grandmother tittered as her many older brothers rolled their eyes at Hoshino's dramatic reaction.

But instead of blushing and denying her grandmother's teasing Hoshino nodded firmly. "Yes... I want him, he will become the stars that light up my eyes." There was no shame, there was no pondering the thought.

Hoshino, knew down to her very core that Jake Barris was her destined one. After all, for the one with the Astral Devouring Physique that allowed her to meditate at ten times efficiency under the night sky... She could feel her physique awakening like she was meditating under the pure night sky in the countryside away from all light pollution the closer she was to him, and when he used that astral elemental spell she could feel her physique working even better reaching up to fifteen times efficiency.

As her grandmother looked at her darling granddaughter in silent question Hoshino Ai bluntly said. "He is without a doubt perfect for a husband, his astral spell made my physique react and I reached fifteen times efficiency even here with the stadium blocking the sky from reaching me Grandma."

Ai's grandmother sighed and looked over at that young man and she rolled her eyes seeing him already being pulled around by his humanoid summon and that Taihou girl. "And what will you do about the competition?" She asked and Ai looked over to see the sight of Taihou coquettishly demanding Jake's attention and pushing her large breasts into the arm she managed to wrest away from the summon.

Her voice came out flat, dull, and without inflection, as Ai spoke coldly. "And? What competition? An orphaned street rat who was adopted to be the slut for Jake who the Ice Witch Olivier his mother decided to adopt... She is not a threat, and even should he decide to play with her." Ai smiled as she patted her grandmother's knee and said sweetly. "Well then, I don't mind my husband having a pet, though to be frank I am well aware neither of us have any love for the other now."

Ai's grandmother loudly chuckled and the men of the Hoshino family sighed and sent looks of utter pity at Jake as the grandmother cackled while in the soundproofing of the noble family's booth blocked off all from listening in on their conversation. "Oh my darling, you are just like your mother... Just don't cut off Taihou's limbs like your mother did to your father's mistress... They never got over that argument before they died during that monster hunt."

The matriarch got an obedient nod of understanding from her delightful granddaughter which made her feel her old heart feel just so warm. "But alright Ai, I will see if I can wrangle a marriage agreement with you wanting the marriage... But my dear, this is America and although many Asian families have moved here with the monster's rise, Jake's families are of European descent and American heritage, and they likely won't be open to a marriage... Especially his mother will not want him to leave her sight."

She had to warn her granddaughter of that major hurdle she had to convince before anything could be set into motion. Olivier was a Supermage with a storied history of cruelty to both her enemies and anyone who got on her bad side... Even now she knew that crazy witch was causing issues for the Raiden siblings from behind the scenes in ways none could link it to her.

It was only her own past as a peak Supermage who had known the girl in the Supermage circles for many years and having seen her grow up from scrounging in the endless snow storms of North Eastern Europe of the collapsing Soviet Empire to reach where she was when she wandered the world doing her duties as a Supermage. It was the prior knowledge that allowed her to know how several times lately the Raiden Siblings adventurers had gone missing and the culprit of their disappearance.

'A monster killing a genius by dropping its shit on them from orbit indeed.' The old woman mentally snorted while looking at her granddaughter and sighing as she could see the same mindset her own daughter had that had her lock onto a man that gathered her interest.

"You can attempt to have the rice cooked during the trip into the Great Lake when you both enter the pocket realms to collect resources... Make him adore your personality, make him obsess over your body, and then feed him great meals and you will have him hooked for a while so we can set a date for a wedding!" The Hoshino grandmother said firmly and the granddaughter nodded seriously like it was a mission of grave importance.

-

Sitting above Jake and watching her step-sister's antic and fighting Jake's new summon for his attention. Alice couldn't help but shiver as her adoptive mother's cold hand poked her own hand with her adoptive mother Olivier speaking frankly and seemingly towards the void between them as they had taken seats away from others. "You know, I adopted you to be my son's companion alongside Taihou, to protect him, and keep him happy."

Alice slowly nodded with little change to her expression as Olivier continued on. "You are a beautiful girl, silver hair contrasting with Taihou's black hair, noble European features to clash with her likewise noble Asian looks... I was initially disappointed you know." Olivier spoke plainly.

"And now?" Alice asked flatly as she looked at her mother whose cold blue eyes showed a smidgen of the affection she only seemed to show her son Jake and her husband in endless tides of that love.

Olivier gently traced her finger across the back of her daughter's hand as she spoke with a hint of introspection. "I can see myself in you Alice, you know... A 'cold' beauty. One who no matter how much blood stains her hands, she will remain a pure and untainted ice sculpture. Until that ice shatters... Or did my son even allow you to put up a wall of ice for him?" She teased slightly making Alice snort and move her hand into her lap.

As she didn't like anyone touching her. 'Except for him.' A small voice whispered inside her mind and she ruthlessly squashed the thought as she spoke flatly. "And what is the meaning of this conversation mother? Aren't you happy with Taihou?"

Olivier's precisely controlled mana slammed onto Alice's form making her chair creek and deform with Alice gagging as her eyes rolled up. Blood spraying from her nose, before just as abruptly the mana pulled off her form with Olivier speaking coldly. "My... Oh my. It's been a few years after my training of you two, and now you both think can disrespect me. Taihou threw some killing intent against me and John after Jake got his summon element and now you think you can play games with me... Do you need to go back in the Hole darling?" She asked and unbidden Alice shivered as a deeply repressed memory came across her mind.

The Hole, a pitch-black, lightless concrete cell, with the exit being in the roof out of her reach and the entire cell being almost airtight except for a small grate that pumped fresh air in there. And worse, her mother filled the Hole with endless garden snakes. And only Jake who thought their trauma was of losing their families and homes and not caring about their screams, and would literally keep the nightmares away both in their dreams and in reality in their adoptive mother away from them.

Alice was a very intelligent and observant young woman, while Taihou was utterly shattered and was put together as Jake's adoring toy who would happily slit her own throat should he ask... Alice herself was well aware she broke differently, she just needed support from her pillar every once in a while to keep sane and the nightmares of her parent's death of being eaten alive by monsters and the Hole, and its endless snakes slivering over her form and taking bites from her flesh, from overwhelming her.

This was why neither Alice nor Taihou had gone to a mage college despite being more than talented enough. They needed their mental pillar. While their other adoptive brother who was actually in a mage college? He was taken in hand by John, Jake's father to become a magical blacksmith.

"The meaning of the conversation is simple my dear. Jake is going to leave the nest... Taihou is going to follow lest she need to be euthanized due to her insanity and being a danger to everyone around her, and you are obviously going to follow. As you yourself bullied the girl who wanted to confess her feelings to Jake in middle school to the point of fleeing the city. And frankly, I am done training you in killing rouge mages."

Olivier chuckled as she said with some humor. "You are truly more broken than Taihou but somehow, more functional... It's quite the quandary honestly, as none of the people I broke before became a diamond like you."

Even as Alice carefully wiped the blood from her nose and mouth away with a handkerchief she couldn't help but ask. "And what do you think Jake will think, when he finds out you threw us into a hole to mentally shatter?"

Olivier was silent and although Alice was immune to pain, she still hesitated slightly as she looked over at her adoptive mother, and when she saw the smile she couldn't help but shiver as Olivier's broken smile as the woman seemingly stared past her. "Oh... He will understand, it was just training after all, I made you both strong, in mind, body, and magic... The motherland did much worse things to its soldiers during this war on monsters, he knows cruelty is but one step away and I will accept any blame he lays on me." She finished plainly and with zero guilt.

Alice had no answer and there was no further conversation between the Ice Witch and her disciple, her adoptive daughter. And the one she adored the most.